Weak electric currents could help combat superbugs

Medical News Today shared a recent study by researchers from the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville, who have shown that electric currents can kill bacteria. With nearly 2.8 million antibiotic resistant infections, causing 35,000 deaths in the United States each year, there’s an urgency to find new ways to reduce the transmission of bacteria.

While scientists have known that relatively large currents or electric fields could kill or supress the growth of bacteria, this new study shows that a “current of fewer than 100 millionths of an amp, or microamps, applied for 30 minutes can kill bacteria.” This method disrupts the bacteria’s membranes, allowing proteins, ions and other small molecules to leak into and out of the cells.

Professor Yong Wang, senior author of the study, states that the “findings indicate that electricity may be a practical way to continually sterilize objects, such as doorknobs, that people frequently touch.” A voltage of under 1.5 volts was enough to generate the required current, which is too small to harm humans, says Professor Wang. Scientists also believe that they can use the tiny currents to inhibit the formation of tough bacterial colonies, or biofilms, on surfaces in water storage or purification facilities.

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