The battle between man and micro-organism continues unabated, with each side occasionally winning a skirmish but neither looking likely to win the war.
Man may have the innate intelligence and ingenuity to develop new and ever more ingenious weapons against bacteria, but the micro-organisms’ natural ability to evolve constantly to evade or resist attempts to wipe them out means that we will always have difficulty in gaining the upper hand.
Ironically, one of the main weapons in man’s arsenal against bacteria – antibiotics – has become a double-edged sword. Overprescribing and misuse has led to the development of drug-resistant strains, but even though understanding and awareness of the problem have grown, there is little sign that things are changing, at least in some parts of the world.
But there is more than one way to skin a rabbit, as the English saying goes. While the pharma industry is still searching for new classes of antibiotics, other sectors are coming up with novel and innovative ways of eliminating bacteria.
Most recently these include self-sanitising keyboards using UV light, using nanoparticles in textiles and floors that electrocute bacteria on contact, not to mention the tried and tested methods, such as filtration and the natural antibacterial properties of copper and silver.
Given that turkey is one of the major causes of food poisoning at this time of year, the Cleanroom Technology team would like to wish all our readers seasonal best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous and bacteria-free holiday.
