Breakthrough could prevent superbug infections forming on medical implants

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Breakthrough could prevent superbug infections forming on medical implants

By Jane Norman, ABC Updated June 25, 2013, 11:43 am

Scientists say new research into the behaviour of superbug bacteria could help prevent life-threatening infections forming on medically implanted devices.

Drug-resistant bacteria such as golden staph can cause infections on devices like catheters, pacemakers and joint replacements that are notoriously difficult to treat.

A team of researchers from Sydney's University of Technology say they have discovered how the bacteria behaves and why it spreads so quickly.

The research has just been published in the prestigious US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Associate Professor Cynthia Whitchurch says the development is a breakthrough.

"Bacterial infections of medical devices are thought to account for about half of all hospital-acquired infections, which can lead to enormous healthcare costs," she said.

"It's estimated in the US alone that it can cost somewhere in the vicinity of $5 billion a year.

"We understand something new about how bacteria work – how whole populations of bacteria work – and we might be able to use that knowledge to control them in ways we hadn't considered before."

Researchers used a sophisticated imaging system to study the bacteria's behaviour.

They found the bacteria secreted a glue-like DNA that bound hundreds of cells together in what is called a biofilm, which is fast-moving and resistant to antibiotics and the body's natural immune defences.

Those cells then became like a bulldozer, gouging tiny trails or "furrows" as they moved along the surface.

Professor Whitchurch says the next step is trying to find a way to sabotage that process.

"What we found is that bacteria are able to build their own sort of road network, and that they can manage traffic flow throughout that road network to enable really rapid expansion of biofilms across surfaces," she said.

"Instead of allowing the bacteria to create their own furrows ...we [can] create our own furrows in say the surface of a catheter [which would] inhibit their ability to run up the catheter of their own accord.

"We can direct them into, for example, futile circles, so that their rate of migration along the catheter is significantly inhibited."