Alimentary Pharmabiotic Center Building Designer Bacteria To Fight C diff And Other Superbugs
If there were a bully in the neighborhood, the Irish way to deal with the situation might be to find somebody bigger to knock him or her out. That appears to be the tack the University College Cork (UCC) is taking when it comes to the dangerous Clostridium difficile.
A UCC research team plans to fight hospital superbugs with designer bacteria that they hope will be tougher than Clostridium difficile.
In other words, the Irish researchers plan to conduct germ warfare against the very superbugs that are proving resistance to the world’s best antibiotics. They want to stop C difficile and the infamous MRSA.
The approach UCC’s Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) is taking is to add extra genes to give their designer bacteria an edge over C difficile. The APC looks for “good bugs” in the most unexpected of places. Gut tissue samples recovered from consenting patients offer a ready supply, but so too does the contents of an infant’s nappy. “They are quite good sources for probiotics,” Dr. Roy Sleator told The Irish Times.
For more on germ warfare against the superbugs, check out the rest of the story in today's IT here.
