Death to Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs … And Chewing Gum
Posted by
Kevin
Life works in mysterious ways:
A method for making instant steam, without the need for electricity, promises to be useful for tackling antibiotic resistant ‘superbugs’ like MRSA and C. difficile, as well as removing chewing gum from pavements and powering environmentally friendly cars, reports Nina Morgan in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. ‘The value of instant steam lies in creating truly portable steam that can be generated intermittently on demand,’ says Dave Wardle, business development director at Oxford Catalysts.
The company is already in talks with UK specialist steam supplier OspreyDeepclean about possible applications for steam cleaning hospitals, Wardle adds. An as-yet unpublished 2006 study at University College London Hospital, commissioned by OspreyDeepclean, showed that dry steam applied at temperatures ranging from 150 to 180 C could destroy bacteria, including MRSA and Clostridium difficile, in less than two seconds, without the use of chemicals.
Ina ll seriousness, this could be fantastic news. We as a culture have helped evolve, through our careless and over-use of antibiotics — a class of superbugs that antibiotics cannot kill. Without an effective means of fighting these bugs, mortality rates in hospitals will contiue to climb and there is the very real possibility that we will start seeing these bugs outside of hospital environments. Obviously, this method does nothing for people who have contract one of these infections, but it does appears as if it could work wonderfully as a preventive measure. A simple, effective, easy to use and almost instantaneous disenfciting process would go a long way to making our hospitals much more superbug resistant.
And giving us chewing gum free sidewalks, let’s not forgot …
Another possibility for dealing with superbugs is to not bother to kill them at all, and instead disrupt their “quorum sensing.” There was a great NOVA on this possibility just a few months back. Basically, rather than killing the bacteria, you’d interfere with their ability to send and receive chemical messages with one another, thus rendering them harmless.
Comment 7/30/2007
Good post, this is an important issue for hospitals particularly the older ones.
Comment 7/30/2007