Latest news with #RonanMcCarthy
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists Sound Alarm Over Plastic-Eating Bacteria in Hospitals
A powerful bacterial superbug is making headlines for its unique and alarming ability to feed on plastic found in medical devices. Researchers at Brunel University of London have discovered that Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a drug-resistant bacterium linked to over 559,000 deaths globally each year, has developed a disturbing survival mechanism. The bug not only resists treatment but can also 'digest' polycaprolactone, a type of plastic used in common medical tools like sutures, catheters, implants, and wound dressings. According to a groundbreaking study published in Cell, this adaptation helps the bacterium cling to hospital environments, creating tougher biofilms that resist antibiotics and standard cleaning protocols. 'Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria,' said study leader Ronan McCarthy. 'Pathogens with this ability could survive for longer in the hospital environment.' The discovery is a chilling reminder that pathogens are constantly evolving to thrive in unexpected ways. In this case, Pseudomonas aeruginosa isn't just surviving—it's actively undermining medical devices designed to save lives. The plastic-eating enzyme it produces could weaken critical tools like ventilators, drug-delivery patches, and surgical meshes, making them less effective and harder to sterilize. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) already lists P. aeruginosa as a major contributor to infections such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections, particularly among patients with compromised immune systems or those recovering from more research is needed to determine the full extent of this superbug's capabilities, SciTech Daily reported that McCarthy emphasized the urgency: 'Plastic is everywhere in modern medicine, and it turns out some pathogens have adapted to degrade it. We need to understand the impact this has on patient safety.' With its ability to withstand antibiotics and thrive on plastics in hospitals, Pseudomonas aeruginosa poses a dual threat. One that could reshape infection control strategies and force a rethink of how medical tools are designed and Sound Alarm Over Plastic-Eating Bacteria in Hospitals first appeared on Men's Journal on May 26, 2025
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Superbug That Can Feed on Plastic Is Spreading in Hospitals
A nasty bacterial superbug that kills hundreds of thousands of people per year is spreading through hospitals — and it feeds on something surprising, scientists have now found. Researchers from the Brunel University of London have found, per a new study in the journal Cell, that the bacterial Pseudomonas aeruginosa appears to "digest" medical plastic. Associated with more than 559,000 deaths globally per year, this drug-resistant bug is, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, believed to cause other illnesses like pneumonia or urinary tract infections. People often seem to develop it after surgery, but until this study, researchers weren't aware that it might be living or feeding on medical plastics. By analyzing a strain of the bacteria taken from a patient's wound swab, the microbial researchers found that P. aeruginosa seems specifically to survive longer on polycaprolactone, a plastic used in all kinds of medical interventions ranging from sutures, stints, and surgical mesh to wound dressings, drug-delivery patches, and implants. In Brunel University's press release about the "world-first" research, study leader Ronan McCarthy said this finding suggests that medical professionals should rethink how bugs spread throughout hospitals and other healthcare settings. "Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria," McCarthy said. "Pathogens with this ability could survive for longer in the hospital environment." The study also, as the professor noted, "means that any medical device or treatment that contains plastic" — including the ventilators some pneumonia patients need and catheters necessary for UTIs — "could be susceptible to degradation by bacteria." Beyond its ability to break down such important medical tools, the researchers also found that the enzyme they isolated appears to grow stronger biofilms, or outer layers that help bacteria resist antibiotics and make them harder to treat, after digesting plastic. Though there will obviously need to be more study to figure out how best to head off this plastic-eating menace, there's a 200-year history of pathogenic adaptation behind P. aeruginosa that suggests it may eventually circumvent any such measures. Still, McCarthy pointed out that scientists "need to understand the impact this has on patient safety." "Plastic is everywhere in modern medicine," he said, "and it turns out some pathogens have adapted to degrade it." More on bacteria: Mysterious Bacteria Not Found on Earth Are Growing on China's Space Station
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hospital superbug can feed on medical plastic, first-of-its-kind study reveals
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A superbug that commonly causes infections in hospitals can feed on plastic used for medical interventions, potentially making it even more dangerous, a world-first study has found. The bug is a bacteria species called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is commonly found in hospital environments and can cause potentially deadly infections in the lungs, urinary tract and blood. Now, scientists have analyzed a strain of this bacteria from a hospital patient's wound, which revealed a surprising trick that could enable it to persist on surfaces and in patients for longer — its ability to break down the biodegradable plastics used in stints, sutures and implants. The researchers published their findings May 7 in the journal Cell Reports. "It means we need to reconsider how pathogens exist in the hospital environment," study lead author Ronan McCarthy, a professor in biomedical sciences at Brunel University of London, said in a statement. "Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria. Pathogens with this ability could survive for longer in the hospital environment. It also means that any medical device or treatment that contains plastic could be susceptible to degradation by bacteria." The team's laboratory study raises the need for further research to better understand how this plastic-eating ability affects the bug in realistic hospital environments, in which specific cleaning protocols are in place to help prevent exposing patients and medical instruments to bacteria. P. aeruginosa is thought to have rapidly evolved over the last 200 years to infect humans as they began living in densely populated areas, especially among those with weakened lungs due to air pollution. Related: Dangerous 'superbugs' are a growing threat, and antibiotics can't stop their rise. What can? Since then, many strains of the bug have acquired resistance to a wide variety of antibiotics. These resistant microbes can contaminate catheters and ventilation devices, making P. aeruginosa a common cause of hospital-acquired infections, especially among vulnerable patients. P. aeruginosa is tied to roughly 559,000 deaths per year globally, the majority of which are associated with antimicrobial resistance. Yet how the bacteria can thrive in ostensibly sterile hospital environments has remained unclear. To investigate, the researchers took a swab from a patient's wound in a British hospital and analyzed it, which revealed the bug can make an enzyme named Pap1. This enzyme is able to break down the plastic polycaprolactone (PCL) — commonly used in sutures, wound dressings, surgical meshes and other medical equipment — and release the plastic's carbon, which P. aeruginosa can then feed on. To test whether this enzyme is really responsible for breaking down plastic, the scientists inserted the gene that codes for Pap1 into Escherichia coli bacteria, and found that when that bacteria expressed the enzyme, it too was able to break down PCL. The team further confirmed the enzyme's plastic-eating role when they deleted the gene that codes for it in a P. aeruginosa variant, finding that the microbe was no longer able to dissolve the plastic. RELATED STORIES —How fast can antibiotic resistance evolve? —AI could identify the next superbug-fighting drug —Scientists have found a secret 'switch' that lets bacteria resist antibiotics — and it's been evading lab tests for decades The bug's plastic-chewing power doesn't just seem to be granting it a food source: It is also making it more dangerously resistant to treatment. This is because the bacteria uses plastic fragments to form hardier biofilms — structures with protective coatings that shield superbugs from antibiotics — the researchers found. The scientists also identified similar enzymes in other bacteria, meaning that other widely used medical plastics could be providing sustenance and improved resilience to additional superbugs, possibly contributing to hospital-acquired infections. To follow up on this, the researchers have called for urgent research on the prevalence of the plastic-eating enzymes among other pathogens, and for experts to reconsider the plastics they use in medical settings, and the ways that they monitor hospital environments. "Plastic is everywhere in modern medicine, and it turns out some pathogens have adapted to degrade it," McCarthy said. "We need to understand the impact this has on patient safety." This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Can hospital superbugs chew up stents and implants? Here's what a new study says
A dangerous hospital-acquired bacteria can digest and live on plastics present in sutures, stents, wound dressings and implants in your body. Researchers from UK's Brunel University also found that when the bacteria used plastics as its food source, it led to the formation of more biofilms — barriers that can protect the pathogen from attacks by the immune system and antibiotics. The finding means that bacteria, such as the one they studied, could degrade medical implants, lead to infections at the site of the implant and cause infections that are harder to treat. What did the researchers find? There are bacteria in the environment that have developed the capacity to break down different types of plastics. So researchers wanted to see whether bacteria that cause infections in humans could also lead to such degradation within the body. For the study, scientists looked for different pathogens with genes that could potentially produce enzymes similar to the ones that environmental bacteria use to degrade plastics. While they found several hits, they selected a Pseudomonas aeruginosa sample that came from a patient's wound. They isolated an enzyme — which they named Pap1— that could digest a type of bio-degradable plastic frequently used in medical devices called polycaprolactone (PCL) plastic. The researchers found that the enzyme degraded 78 per cent of the plastic sample in just seven days. Importantly, the researchers found that the bacteria were not only degrading the plastic, they were also using it as their carbon source — effectively eating it. 'This means we need to reconsider how pathogens exist in the hospital environment. Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria. Pathogens with this ability could survive for longer in hospitals,' Dr Ronan McCarthy, author and professor of biomedical sciences at Brunel University, said in a release. Why is this concerning? This is concerning for several reasons: One, bacteria could live on in hospitals or within a patient even when there aren't any other nutrients present. Two, they could degrade medical devices that use plastics, leading to their failure. This could lead to a rethink of materials that should be used for medical devices. Three, researchers found that the plastic-digesting bacteria could cause more severe infections. The researchers further found that the bacteria were using the broken down plastic molecules to create biofilms (a matrix made of sugars, proteins, fats and DNA) that make pathogens more resistant and difficult to treat. Four, degrading medical devices would also mean that the pathogens would be able to create pits and niches within the human body, where it could be shielded from the immune system and antibiotics, again causing difficult-to-treat infections. Are there other pathogens that could have this ability? Researchers found that other pathogens like Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii, too, carried genes that could potentially create plastic-digesting enzymes. More studies are needed. Importantly, the researchers found that Pap1 enzyme was structurally similar to known enzymes that can degrade even more hardy plastics such as PET bottles.
Time of India
18-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Hospital superbug ‘eating' medical plastics, devices & implants: Study
Representative photo NEW DELHI: Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a bacteria known for causing 10%-30% of hospital-acquired infections in India, has been shown to break down plastic used in sutures, stents, wound dressings and implants. The 'world-first discovery' published in the journal Cell Reports challenges the widely held belief that pathogens cannot degrade medical plastics. It also means any medical device or treatment that contains plastic could be susceptible to degradation by bacteria, the study said. Professor Ronan McCarthy, who led the study, said, 'It means we need to reconsider how pathogens exist in the hospital environment.' Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria. Pathogens with this ability could survive for longer in the hospital environment, he added. McCarthy and his team isolated the enzyme Pap1 from a strain of pseudomonas aeruginosa that was originally sampled from a patient's wound. Tested in a lab, the enzyme degraded 78% of a plastic sample in just seven days. Crucially, the bacteria could also use plastic as its only carbon source — effectively eating it. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among a bacteria group responsible for most hospital infections that can resist antibiotics.
