HOW do you prevent wounds becoming infected by dangerous superbugs? By first
adding other bugs, say researchers in Canada who have found that a cousin of the
yogurt bacterium can stop the growth of harmful bugs.
About 1 per cent of surgical incisions become infected. If the patient’s
immune system is weak, or the bacteria are antibiotic-resistant superbugs, such
infections can kill.
Gregor Reid, a microbiologist at the University of Western Ontario, wondered
if benign bacteria might help. So he and his colleague Jeffrey Howard coated
several small sheets of silicone with Staphylococcus aureus, a major
cause of hospital infections.…
