Encasing antibiotics inside nanofibers, gives them an extraordinary ability to destroy the drug-resistant bacteria completely. Scientists describe the remains as mere "ghosts".Mohamed H. El-Newehy, Ph.D., leader of the nanofibers research team, said the new technology has potentially important applications in the on-going battle against antibiotic-resistant infections. Estimates suggest that more than 100,000 people in the United States alone develop such infections each year, with nearly 20,000 deaths. Health care costs from those infections may exceed $20 billion annually.
"The rapid emergence of bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics has become a serious public health problem," said El-Newehy. "There is an urgent need to identify new antibiotics that work in different ways that can overcome resistance. Our approach is not a new antibiotic, but a new way of delivering existing antibiotics."
That approach, El-Newehy explained, could make new treatments available to patients much faster than trying to discover and develop brand-new medicines, a process that typically takes 10-12 years and costs $800 million to almost $2 billion. It could be used against a broad range of bacteria to fight disease, prevent bacterial and fungal contamination in the food industry, inhibit the growth of microorganisms in drinking water and enhance the effects of chemotherapy, he added.
It involves putting common antibiotics inside nanofibers made of polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene oxide wisps of plastic-like material so small that peach hair or a strand of spider silk are gigantic by comparison. Nanofibers can't even be seen under a regular microscope, and almost a billion could be lined up side-by-side along the length of a yard stick.
"The rapid emergence of bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics has become a serious public health problem," said El-Newehy. "There is an urgent need to identify new antibiotics that work in different ways that can overcome resistance. Our approach is not a new antibiotic, but a new way of delivering existing antibiotics."
That approach, El-Newehy explained, could make new treatments available to patients much faster than trying to discover and develop brand-new medicines, a process that typically takes 10-12 years and costs $800 million to almost $2 billion. It could be used against a broad range of bacteria to fight disease, prevent bacterial and fungal contamination in the food industry, inhibit the growth of microorganisms in drinking water and enhance the effects of chemotherapy, he added.
It involves putting common antibiotics inside nanofibers made of polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene oxide wisps of plastic-like material so small that peach hair or a strand of spider silk are gigantic by comparison. Nanofibers can't even be seen under a regular microscope, and almost a billion could be lined up side-by-side along the length of a yard stick.
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