New plasma prototype devices may help destroy MRSA

Two new devices have shown tremendous promise in fighting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), as well as other drug-resistant bacteria.

The two instruments are low-temperature plasma prototypes, which have demonstrated in tests that they can pose a real challenge to these microorganisms.

The find is made all the more important by the fact that these bacteria spread mostly in hospitals, where people are most likely to have a weakened immune system. In severe cases, these infections are lethal.

One prototype device has been developed for efficient disinfection of healthy skin (e.g. hands and feet) in hospitals and public spaces where bacteria can pose a lethal threat; and another to shoot bacteria-killing agents into infested chronic wounds and enable a quicker healing process.

The devices, described in New Journal of Physics, have been created by German scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, and Japan-based ADTEC Plasma Technology Ltd.