Australasian Science 11-5

T

he rise of multi-resistant bacteria is one of the

greatest risks to human health today. Recently the

UK’s Review on Antimicrobial Resistance

predicted that ten million people will die per year

by 2050 due to infections caused by anti biotic-

resistant superbugs, which is more than the number of people

dying from cancer and diabetes combined.

Bacteria have established subtle mechanisms to evade the

immune system and become resistant to antibiotics. One way

they do this is by forming bioilms. Bioilms are clusters of bacteria

embedded in a self-produced slime. This matrix protects the

bacteria against both immune attack and medical treatments.

Bioilms can be envisaged as a fortress comprising thick walls

that antibiotics typically cannot penetrate. Within this fortress the

bacteria can multiply and adapt to their environment, making it

very hard to kill them.

Bioilms are found from head to toe. According to the US

National Institutes of Health they account for more than 80% of

microbial infections in the human body, including dental plaque,

sinusitis, wound infections, urinary tract infections and catheter

infections.

Bioilms can have lethal consequences when medical thera-

pies fail to eradicate them, such as in cases of:

• cystic ibrosis, where bioilms are responsible for recurring
  infections of the lungs, resulting in irreversible damage;


• endocarditis, an inlammation of the inner layer of the heart;
  or


• an infection of implants like artiicial heart valves.

18 | JUNE 2016

A Trojan Horse to

Clear a Stuffy Nose

KATHARINA RICHTER

Antibiotic resistance is expected to kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined, but a new

approach aims to penetrate the biofilms that protect bacteria from antibiotics.

Clusters of the bacterium

Staphylococcus aureus

protected by a biofilm.