The bacteria known as MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, kills as many as 250 people in Ireland each year. It also kills tens of thousands more around the world, including in the region of 18,000 people each year in the USA.
MRSA has developed resistance to antibiotics which means there is no treatment for those affected by the bacterium, which most people get while residing in hospital.
It’s great news, therefore, that a group of researchers based in Ireland have developed a technology that kills MRSA.
The reseachers at the Crest Centre at Dublin Institute of Technology have developed floor tiles that can be used in hospitals to kill the bug. The tiles are coated in a special material, which when activated by light, kills MRSA.
The technology was presented recently at the European Innovation Conference.
Listen: Interview with John Colreavy
Broadcast on 103.2 Dublin City FM on 15.12.2011