Superbug That Can Feed on Plastic Is Spreading in Hospitals

Image by BSIP / UIG Via Getty Studies 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 interv ... Read full article.