Progress in battle against antibiotic resistance

Antibiotics have been so overprescribed that more and more bugs are now resistant to them. In fact, tens of millions of lives are at risk from common infections that are resistant to antibiotics and can evolve into more serious medical conditions.

It is a now fully evolved trend that Gerald Celente first identified in his book Trends 2000: “…worldwide misuse of antibiotics was in the process of destroying their effectiveness on a massive scale. Medical authorities around the world were acknowledging a frightening scenario: The wonder bugs were winning the battle with wonder drugs.”

Today, across the globe, there is growing scientific evidence of the crisis Celente forecast and described in 1997 as “environmental AIDS.”

We are squarely in, as it’s know today, the age of “antimicrobial resistance.” And that resistance often comes from superbugs found in the gut, which provides a perfect environment for bacteria to multiply.

Now researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have found an elegantly simple fix.

They’ve developed a skin patch studded with microneedles filled with drugs. When the patch is put on, the needles are so tiny that they penetrate only the top layer of skin, making the process painless. The needles then dissolve, releasing their payloads directly into the bloodstream, avoiding the intestinal incubator where resistance breeds.

Meanwhile, researchers at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University seem to have created a skin-patch weight-loss plan.

The human body has two kinds of fat: brown fat that’s burned for energy and white fat that bursts you out of your pants. Babies have a lot of brown fat; as we age, we steadily trade brown for white.

To reverse that, the scientists loaded a skin patch sporting hundreds of micro-needles, each thinner than a human hair and loaded with biochemicals that converts the fat. The patch is applied directly over the fat to be converted. After a couple of minutes, the needles detach from the patch, which is removed. After about five days, the needles dissolve as the white fat changes to healthier brown.

Mice in tests also had less cholesterol and fatty acid in their blood than other mice eating the same diet, but who weren’t patched.

The patches can be made for a few dollars each and show no side effects, unlike diet drugs taken orally. Researchers await clinical trials, but already are deluged with offers from biotech companies.

TRENDPOST: Skin patches aren’t just for quitting smoking. Within 10 years, they will deliver medications and innovative biochemicals directly into the body, treating chronic conditions and offsetting the effects of bad habits.