When Alexander Fleming discovered the first naturally occurring antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928 he changed the world of medicine, and because of this discovery he earned the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside Ernst Chain and Howard Florey. Penicillin’s development allowed patients to be cured of deadly diseases like syphilis, or those caused by staphylococci or streptococci. Due to this discovery, over the last century, our society’s lifespan has increased and the world’s population has exploded.
Unfortunately, many species of bacteria are now evolving to be antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” Fighting superbugs requires unconventional treatments, which would cost the worlds’ government’s billions of dollars in additional healthcare expenses. To make matters worse, any methods we currently have to kill superbugs often have painful side effects such as vomiting or organ damage.
Luckily, researchers are working on ways to get around antibiotic-resistance. Dr. Qi Zhou, an academic researcher in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney, is working on a technique to deliver nano-sized antibiotics via an inhaler to target respiratory superbugs. According to this press release, upper and lower respiratory tract infections caused by superbugs cost the Australian taxpayers over $150 million and accounts for nearly seven million doctor visits per year. This effectively allows antibiotics to be delivered directly to the infected site. This reduces potential side-effects such as damaging other organs. “These new inhaled nanomedicines will target the antibiotics directly at the respiratory tract” Dr. Zhou’s colleague Professor Hak-Kim Chan says. “The new inhaled nanoantibiotic therapy will be pivotal in the fight to reduce drug resistance and adverse effects for combating respiratory superbugs.”
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