The researchers say it is a new form of antibiotic resistance and could explain why some infections keep coming back.
Researchers at Newcastle University filmed bacteria"undressing" and taking off their outer layer - or cell wall.
The first antibiotic to be discovered, penicillin, disrupts the cell wall and causes bacteria to burst., looked at bacteria from elderly patients with urinary tract infections that kept coming back. But the researchers say this is the first time it has been shown the bugs can use this trick in order to survive antibiotic treatment.
Most of these require a mutation in the genetic code of the bacterium, which can then be shared with neighbouring bacteria or passed on to any descendants.Image copyrightDr Mickiewicz told the BBC:"In that sense, it is more worrying as they don't need to acquire anything, they don't need to evolve and they probably do it far more than we realise.
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