Fighting antibiotic - resistant microbes is one of the great challenges of our time . Lack of investment in the field and overuse of the drugs in land have create a time bomb calorimeter , and researchers worldwide are looking for an effectual resolution .
A team from Arizona State University ( ASU ) and Mayo Clinic have found that a finicky eccentric of dismal clay from Oregon is efficient at killing bacterium that have become drug - resistant . The effectiveness was only demonstrate in the lab , so it is still very early days , but the enquiry is nevertheless supporting .
As reported in theInternational Journal of Antimicrobial Agents , the clay was shown to be good against coarse pathogen such asEscherichia coliandStaphylococcus aureus . This include tough - to - pop strain like carbapenem - resistantEnterobacteriaceaeand methicillin - resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA ) .
" Working with Mayo Clinic , we evince that these stiff also decrease universe of bacterial biofilms , as well as bacteria common in wound that are more resistant to drugs , " co - writer Lynda Williams , a biochemist at ASU , said in astatement . " The results support our efforts to project new antibacterial drug using natural clays . "
Biofilms are a peculiarly thorny issue of drug development . These slimy sum are produced by microorganisms when they are aggregating in a community . The presence of these social system do them even hard to attack and defeat . The Lucius Clay was effective at wiping out bacteria both with and without biofilms .
" We showed , however , that this reduce iron - bearing clay can kill some mental strain of bacterium under the testing ground experimental condition used , admit bacterium grown as biofilms , which can be particularly challenge to handle , " added Robin Patel , an infectious disease physician and clinical microbiologist at Mayo Clinic , and lead author of the study .
The inspiration for this subject came from the common use of Clay as topical skin treatments in many cultures . The researchers were curious to see if antibacterial properties could be confirm in certain variety of muds . The team made a hiatus using the blue corpse but only try one particular denseness . Therefore , it is important to remain a picayune cautious about the findings .
At least23,000 people diein the US every year from antibiotic - resistant infections , with around 2 million becoming taint . TheUnited Nations(UN ) estimates that drug - resistant pathogens could bolt down 10 million people worldwide each yr by 2050 .
