The use and overuse of antibiotics have led to bacteria evolving resistance to many medications. Dealing with multi drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (which causes mrsa infections) and Escherichia coli (linked to food poisoning) requires complex and costly care. The emergence of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis threatens a return to a time before antibiotics, when many life-threatening conditions were largely untreatable. Nanotechnology could be one way of avoiding, or at least postponing, such a nightmare. Many nanoparticles, which are substances smaller than 100 nanometres (billionths of a metre) have antimicrobial properties, disrupting bacteria and either preventing them from spreading or killing them outright. Silver nanoparticles, in particular, interfere with bacterial replication and the tiniest specks physically abrade and disrupt membrane walls. The most powerful nano-attacks, however, appear to involve reactive oxygen species (ros). These chemically active molecules are the shock troops of the biological world, rampaging through dna, oxidising enzymes and damaging many of the cells and proteins essential for life.
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