In an age where "superbugs" are getting more resistant to antibiotics, spreading rapidly across the globe and infecting millions of people each year, scientists have been searching for new ways to battle these bacteria that are quick to evolve defences against our most potent treatments.

Well, scientists from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland have come up with an alternative to antibiotics, which may successfully stop bacteria in its tracks. Janice Spencer and a team of researchers are developing nylon sutures (type of binding or stitch) coated with bacteriophages.  A bacteriophage is a virus, found abundantly in seawater, that infects bacteria and is commonly referred to by its abbreviated name, phage.  Phages are believed to be the most widely distributed and diverse entities in the biosphere.  They have been used for over six decades as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.  Phages work by binding to the bacteria and injecting its DNA.  They replicate in their host until it reaches capacity and bursts, killing the bacteria in the process.

The Scottish team, in their research, found that phage-coated sutures effectively halted infection in live rats.  To test the ability of the virus to kill bacteria, the team began by making small incisions in live rats and infecting them with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), one of the most resistant strains of bacteria found in hospitals. Half of the rats were stitched up with sutures that were coated with polymer-bound bacteriophages while the other half were closed up with untreated sutures.  What was found by the researches was that the wounds dressed with the treated sutures appeared to have no infection, while those stitched with regular sutures developed large, pus-filled sores.

The researchers did further tests by removing and placing the treated sutures directly into a culture dish full of MRSA bacteria. They found that the virus remained active for up to three weeks, effectively killing off 96 percent of bacteria in culture.

It is not expected that bacteriophages will completely replace antibiotics in fighting infection.  However, these viruses have some advantages.   According to Spencer, "Antibiotics are broad-spectrum, and for certain bacterial strains, it's easier to use bacteriophages if you know exactly which bacterium is causing the infection," she says. "[With bacteriophages,] you can target one strain, and it wouldn't affect any other bacteria that may be protecting cells."

The Scottish team also hopes to develop sprays and creams with microscopic beads of bacteriophages which can remain active against bacterial infection for extended periods of time.  Plans are also under way to investigate bacteriophages' diagnostic potential.