Does this 25 year-old hold the key to winning the war against superbugs?

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Not many 25-year-olds can claim to get up at 4 am and work weekends to save the world from an impending Armageddon that could cost tens of millions of lives.

But for the past three years, Shu Lam, a Malaysian PhD student at the University of Melbourne, has confined herself to a scientific laboratory to figure out how to kill superbugs that can no longer be treated with antibiotics.

She believes that she has found the key to averting a health crisis so severe that last week the United Nations convened its first ever general assembly meeting on drug-resistant bacteria.

The overuse and incorrect use of antibiotics has rendered some strains of bacteria untreatable, allowing so-called “superbugs” to mutate. Last Wednesday, the problem was described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a “fundamental threat” to global health and safety.

Source: The Telegraph (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
healthcare technology, infectious diseases