Could British bug-buster beat super bugs?

The nasal cream contains four MRSA-killing viruses, clinical trials are expected to begin next year, and the cream could be on the market within three to five years. Experts predict that all patients attending hospital will eventually be given the product.

Overuse of antibiotics means many bacteria have become resistant to many forms of treatment, and the cost and time involved in developing new drugs has meant drug firms are reluctant to bring new brands onto the market.

Warnings that the world is on the brink of returning to a pre-antibiotic era has meant a desperate search for an alternative treatment.

Campaigns that focus on hand-washing and good basic hygiene for staff and patients have done little to combat the growing super bug problem in hospitals.

Now scientists have discovered that special viruses called bacteriophages, which have been widely used in Eastern Europe since the twenties, are almost 100% more effective.

The old-fashioned treatment for bacterial infections was used as far back as the 1930s when Red Army soldiers used bacteriophages against gangrene and even today, the bacteriophage is used as standard treatment in parts of Eastern Europe for bacterial infections from gangrene to strep throat.

Bacteriophages work by infecting bacteria and preventing their hosts from creating new strains.

The experts say the bacteriophage only kills the bacteria you want it to because once the phage has entered the body, it attaches itself to the bacteria causing the infection, and inserts in its own DNA to make the bacteria start producing bacteriophages and in the process the bacteria die.

The phage then automatically starts to disappear.

Should a bacteria become resistant to the phage, as they have done to antibiotics, a new phage matched to the new bacteria can be developed and in order to inhibit resistance, a cocktail of phages would most likely be used in treatment.

The special cream is inserted into the nose with a stick applicator and massaged into place, preventing patients and hospital staff from spreading killer bacteria onto wounds through sneezing.

The cream is being developed by pharmaceutical company Novolytics from 50 strains of MRSA in an NHS hospital north of London and will kill 15 types of MRSA.

Dr. Nick Housby from the company says because of the intellectual property rights surrounding the therapy, phages are notoriously hard to patent.

Dr. Housby says the cream must be subjected to two phases of clinical testing before it is approved for widespread use.