’Zombie’ bacteria BREAKTHROUGH: New strain set to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs

But despite lacking the ability to become dormant, the scientists found some could still survive.

This is due to a third, previously unknown, state the team dubbed oligotrophic growth.

Professor Leendert Hamoen, of the University of Amsterdam, said: “We saw clear differences between the active state, the dormant state and this state.

“Normally, Bacillus is rod-shaped, but the starved bacteria shrank until they were almost spherical.

“All kinds of processes that are normally active in the bacterium were altered.

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