Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development. Antibiotics have started to fail, resistant bacteria are already causing more than 1.27 million deaths annually.
The growing issue of antibiotic resistance has fused with the increasing aging population, which now requires more orthopedic procedures, such as knee and hip replacements, than ever.
But knee and hip replacement procedures can result in bacterial infection!
Physicians use bone cement loaded with antibiotics to lower the risk of bacterial infection. Since these antibiotics were not developed for bone tissue, resistance has emerged against these antibiotics.
The rise of drug-resistant bacteria calls for new approaches to these problems, and a potent new form of bone cement is poised to take up the fight.
To solve this growing issue, a group of scientists from Brigham’s Department of Medicine and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery screened a library of antibiotics to create a locally delivered and potent combination of antibiotic and bone cement.
Scientists identified dual-action antibiotic VCD-077, which demonstrated high efficacy against a broad range of drug-resistant bacteria strands. It also slowed the development of future resistance without affecting the stability of regular, clinically used polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement.
