Scientists in Switzerland are working on an alternative to antibiotics - and the impact
this has on medicine could be enormous.
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - and we’ve talked a lot over the past couple of years
about the overuse of antibiotics, and how it’s been leading to new strains of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria.
According to the World Health Organization, over 50,000 people in Europe and America alone
- die of drug-resistant bacteria every year.
But finally, there is good news on the horizon - a team of scientists in Switzerland is currently
working on developing an alternative to antibiotics - that can treat several bacterial infections
and eliminate new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The team has managed to engineer nanoparticles, composed of liposomes - which are small fluid
sacs enclosed in a lipid bilayer.
Typically, these kinds of liposomes are used to deliver medication into your body - but
here, they’ve been designed specifically to attract bacterial toxins.
The nanoparticles composed of these liposomes closely resemble the membrane of host cells
- meaning that once they’re injected in your body, bacterial toxins will mistake them
as naturally occurring lipids and try to infect them.
At that point, the nanoparticles will consume those toxins, trap them inside, and neutralize
them - preventing the spread of toxins.
Without those toxins, the host bacteria will basically be rendered defenseless - and once
that happens, your body’s natural immune system will easily be able to eliminate them.
The team has already conducted successful studies on mice, in which they’ve induced
septicemia - a fatal blood infection - by injecting mice with various forms of Staphylococcus.
All of the untreated mice, died within 33 hours.
But those who were administered this new drug within 10 hours of the initial infection - managed
to live.
Not only that, but they were protected against pneumococcal pneumonia - which can occur as
a complication of septicemia.
Scientists warn that while this isn’t a cure-all for every infection - since each
species of bacteria requires its own tailored solution - they do believe it could eventually
be used to treat MRSA infections.
And they plan to make it freely available worldwide, very soon.
What do you guys think about this?
Could you see this changing the way we think about medicine?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below - and as always, thank you guys
for watching!