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(Kitco News) - Technical advances in the medical sector could see gold provide a shot in the arm in treating multidrug-resistant "superbugs, according to New research by Spanish scientists.
The gold-based groundbreaking research will be presented during the upcoming European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases said in a press release.
As part of the research, Dr. Sara M. Soto González, and her team at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Barcelona, Spain, tested 19 gold-based compounds against various hard-to-treat bacterium. Sixteen (84%) of the compounds proved effective in treating drug-resistant infections.
Soto González's research pitted the gold-based drugs against six deadly bacteria: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which causes skin and other infections; Staphylococcus epidermidis, which can cause catheter-associated infections; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes pneumonia; Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, which causes pneumonia and other infections; Acinetobacter baumannii, which causes blood, urinary tract infections and pneumonia and Escherichia coli, which causes blood, urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
Four of the bacteria used in the study pose a significant risk to human health and are on the World Health Organization's (WHO) list of antibiotic-resistant 'priority pathogens.'
"All of the gold compounds were effective against at least one of the bacterial species studied and some displayed potent activity against several multidrug-resistant bacteria," said Soto González in the press release.
"The type of gold complexes we studied, known as gold (III) complexes, are relatively straightforward and inexpensive to make. They can also be easily modified and so provide a vast amount of scope for drug development," the doctor added. "With research on other types of gold metalloantibiotics also providing promising results, the future is bright for gold-based antibiotics."
According to the research, the gold-based compounds stop enzymes from working, disrupt the function of the bacterial membrane and damage DNA.
According to the WHO, drug-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people a year globally, with the figure projected to rise to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken.
According to research from the World Gold Council, gold is a critical material in the healthcare sector. The precious metal is used in various diagnostic tools and is now being embraced for its antibacterial properties.
Demand for gold in the technology sector, while small compared to the global market, is quickly growing. According to the WGC, tech-sector demand for gold represents about 7% of the worldwide market.
