A new study has found that a deadly hospital superbug can feed on plastic used in medical equipment, possibly making it harder to control and more dangerous to patients.
The bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cause serious infections in the lungs, blood, and urinary tract. It is linked to about 559,000 deaths every year, many of them from hospital-acquired infections.
Scientists at Brunel University in London discovered that this superbug can break down and feed on a type of medical plastic called polycaprolactone (PCL). This plastic is commonly used in stitches, wound dressings, surgical meshes, and other hospital tools.
Professor Ronan McCarthy, who led the research, said, “Plastics, including plastic surfaces, could potentially be food for these bacteria. It means we need to reconsider how pathogens exist in the hospital environment.”
The researchers found that the bacteria produce a special enzyme called Pap1. This enzyme allows P. aeruginosa to break down plastic and use it as a source of carbon to survive.
To confirm this, the scientists put the Pap1 gene into E. coli bacteria, which also began to break down plastic. When they removed the Pap1 gene from P. aeruginosa, it could no longer eat plastic.
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The study, published on May 7 in the journal Cell Reports, suggests that this ability might help the bug survive longer in hospitals, even in clean and sterile areas. The bacteria can also use plastic fragments to build protective layers called biofilms, which make it harder for antibiotics to kill them.
McCarthy warned, “Plastic is everywhere in modern medicine, and it turns out some pathogens have adapted to degrade it. We need to understand the impact this has on patient safety.”
Experts are now calling for more research into how common these plastic-eating enzymes are in other bacteria and whether medical plastics should be changed to prevent further hospital infections.