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Clothes That Kill
StriderA writes "Robert Engel, of Queens College at The City University of New York, and colleagues have developed a new defence against bacteria and fungi. It seems that they have created tiny molecular daggers that actually seek and destroy the fatty bacteria. Applications to include battling athletes foot to military uniforms that kill anthrax."
Is the only way a new biotechnological development can be 'marketed' is through it's use against bioterrorism? It would be nice to see more support of how this works.
How does this affect our own natural microflora? What is the mode of specificity for these 'blades'? Killing off our own bacteria can make us more susceptible all the other pathogens floating around.
And I didn't think that all bacteria had a fatty coating. What about those which have high carbohydrate coatings? I thought the coat was part of the cause of their pathogenicity.
The concept's cool, but I'd like a little more data.
When clothes get covered in oils from sweat, it's well past time to wash them. You also need to wash off the dead bacteria for this to keep working. I assume these clothes are washable. The article didn't say (or I missed it).
'SBEMAIL!' is better than a goat!!
Why does it seem that everywhere you look there's another antibacterial product?
As though antibiotics are the key to healthier living or something.
There are lots of benign bacteria out there, who inhibit the growth of more dangerous strains by consuming their resources. (Competitive inhibition is the 'real' term.) Add to the fact that the antibacterial agents are leaching into the environment, thereby ensuring that only resistant bacteria thrive.
What we're ending up with is a world in which the only bacteria are resistant to anything we can throw at them - making it harder and harder to treat the problems that they cause.
In addition, exposure to immunological challenges like benign bacteria helps to keep our immune systems strong.
I can see where these fabrics can be useful in military or hospital situations, but society's obsession with antibacterial wipes and soaps and gels (and now clothing) is only going to harm us long-term.
at this point is to say: in the Phillippenes they hand out Penicillin like aspirin, OTC.
It's that sort of cavalier attitude towards broad-spectrum antibiotics that's going to one day give us a plague.
Not that that would be a bad thing, but it isn't going to be pretty.
Maybe it'll take out some of the trolls.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
I was thinking the route of proposing this as use in the military was akin to using advanced technology in space. You force the trickle down technology to work, the general public will accept the product after the US MILITARY has used it or NASA ASTRONAUTS, but not after some geek in a lab claims it works wonders for protecting the body against the common cold.
this is not a sig.