US researchers have designed a new type of catheter tube, optimised by novel artificial intelligence (AI) technology, that impedes the upstream mobility of bacteria, without the need for antibiotics or other chemical antimicrobial methods.With the new design, the number of bacteria that are able to swim upstream in laboratory experiments was reduced 100-fold.
Bacteria are remarkably good swimmers — a trait that can be detrimental to human health.
One of the most common bacterial infections in a health care setting comes from bacteria entering the body through catheters, thin tubes inserted in the urinary tract.
Though catheters are designed to draw fluids out of a patient, bacteria are able to propel themselves upstream and into the body via catheter tubes using a unique swimming motion, causing $300 million of catheter-associated urinary infections in the US alone, annually.