Fighting Superbugs: Scientists developing weapon against drug-resistant bacteria

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Antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing public health issues the world faces today. It's estimated that seven-hundred thousand people across the world have died from drug-resistant infections. But a group of scientists in the US may have found a way to kill these superbugs. CGTN's Hendrik Sybrandy reports.

Kristen Eller is a graduate student in chemical and biological engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. She's part of a team that's trying to re-energize antibiotic drugs that are used to treat a variety of infections and diseases.

PROFESSOR PRASHANT NAGPAL UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "It's a problem of massive scale."

C.U. Boulder's Nagpal is referring to antibiotic resistance, which the US Centers for Disease Control termed a serious health threat several years ago. The CDC says at least two million people in the US become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics each year and at least 23,000 die as a direct result of those infections. And it's a global problem.

PROFESSOR ANUSHREE CHATTERJEE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "Today in this race, we're are actually losing pretty badly. We're in a post-antibiotic era where we don't have antibiotics."

Working with Nagpal, Anushree Chatterjee has developed a smart antibiotic that relies on tiny, light-activated nanoparticles, also known as quantum dots which release superoxide, a chemical that interferes with a bacteria's metabolic and cellular processes.

PROFESSOR ANUSHREE CHATTERJEE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "It is designed in a way in which we're targeting a central process and that makes it difficult for the bug to evolve resistance to it."

PROFESSOR PRASHANT NAGPAL UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "The moment we sort of trigger them with light or any other external stimulus, then they would start doing their work."

HENDRIK SYBRANDY DENVER "Researchers say quantum dots have been shown to massively reduce the antibiotic resistance of infections without adverse side effects. There's hope that antibiotic drugs that have stopped working can be empowered once again."

PROFESSOR PRASHANT NAGPAL UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "Our initial tests have been amazing. It's proven effective way beyond what we could have imagined when we started this project."

The scientists say this quantum dot technology can be easily modified to kill not just the superbugs of today but the ones that surface tomorrow.

PROFESSOR PRASHANT NAGPAL UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER "What's going to be the next outbreak. What's going to be the next Ebola or the next antibiotic resistant superbugs. How we'll counter that."

PROFESSOR ANUSHREE CHATTERJEE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO "So time is of the essence. Resistance is spreading and I think viable technology should be pushed forward as quickly as possible."

Clinical tests, first on animals, then on humans, will be needed first and that depends on funding. Nagpal and Chatterjee argue it's money well spent because they say disease is winning the race with antibiotics at the moment, and patients are suffering as a result. Hendrik Sybrandy, CGTN, Denver.