A 'Devastating' Synthetic Virus Could Be The Solution To Superbugs

A man-made “virus” that obliterates bacteria upon impact could help us turn the tide in the ongoing battle against superbugs, say scientists.

The microscopic molecule, looks like a normal virus but the way it behaves makes it unique. In a manner that can only be compared to a guided missile, the virus blasts through the cell wall of a germ.

It is this almost brutal characteristic that separates it from traditional antibiotics and allows it to disrupt the most vulnerable part of a bacterial cell - the outer membrane.

By destroying the outer membrane the virus is able to overcome the superbug’s defensive ability to mutate. Quite simply, it uses pure brute force.

The research, carried out at the National Physical Laboratory and University College London (UCL), is reported in the journal Nature Communications.

Professor Bart Hoogenboom, from UCL, said: “When we exposed bacterial model membranes to these synthetic viruses in our experiments, the results were devastating: within a few minutes, the membranes were completely destroyed.”

The synthetic virus measures 20 nanometres across, or 20 millionths of a millimetre.

It is said to cause no damage to human cells, while being capable of penetrating them.

In future such lab-made viral molecules could be used to deliver therapeutic genes or attack bacteria hiding within cells, the scientists claim.

The scientists hope the virus will lead to a whole new “army” of molecules with the potential to halt the march of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics already kill at least 700,000 people worldwide each year.

Some experts fear the world is heading for a terrifying post-antibiotic era in which minor cuts and grazes could prove lethal if they became infected.

Dr Max Ryadnov, biometrology science leader at NPL, said: “This research … offers long-term and creative solutions for alternative treatments to infectious diseases that are urgently needed.”