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| Tuesday, 27 December 2005 11:40 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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Scottish scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have discovered that a kitchen sponge could hold the key to wiping out the deadly superbug MRSA.
The scientists are developing powerful anti-MRSA antibiotics produced by bacteria discovered on seaweed in Scotland.
But tests show the microbes only feel at home on the surface of a particular brand of kitchen sponge scourer.
Now researchers want to find the maker of the polyurethane scouring pad - on sale in 89p packs of eight at Morrisons supermarkets.
Brian Austin, a professor of microbiology at Heriot-Watt University, said: "We want to speak to the manufacturer to find out what's special about these sponges.
"Why won't the bacteria produce these antibiotics on any other supermarket sponges? It could be something subtle like how shiny the surface is.
"We're keen to take the study further as an antibiotic powerful enough to kill MRSA clearly has lots of potential”.
Prof Austin's team discovered the bacteria earlier this year growing on longstranded fucus seaweed in the Firth of Forth on the east coast of Scotland.
They found it produced a powerful chemical that ate away at the superbug. The researchers' trials showed the protein could even kill deadly food poisoning infection listeria.
They began cultivating the bacteria in glass containers of meat broth in the university laboratory.
But the microbes would only yield the special antibiotic when grown on discs of the Morrisons kitchen sponge - no other brand placed would work.
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