Nose cream set to fight superbug

British scientists are at an advanced stage of developing the cream, which contains a cocktail of viruses that target the superbug bacteria.

Clinical trials are planned next year following promising laboratory tests in which the viruses wiped out more than 15 strains of MRSA. If successful, the virus cream could be on the market in two to three years.

Dr Nick Housby, chief executive of the Coventry-based biotech company Novolytics, which is carrying out the research, said: "We're extremely optimistic. We know we can kill, in the laboratory, clinically relevant strains. It's a question now of putting it into the right cream, in terms of the formulation, to make sure that it works."

The cream contains a "cocktail" of three or four different types of virus mixed into it.

Once in the nose, the viruses will target and latch onto MRSA bacteria, injecting them with their own genetic material.

The bugs are reprogrammed to produce more viruses, which then break out of their host, destroying it in the process.

Since the viruses reproduce themselves, repeat treatments will not be needed as frequently as with antibiotics. The cream will also be much cheaper to produce than conventional treatments.

Shedding of MRSA from the nose, either by sneezing or transferring the bugs to the hands, is the main way the bacteria spread. When they infect the wounds of a surgical patient they can cause severe illness which may lead to death.

The virus cream is the latest example of a resurrection of interest in bacteriophages, or "phages", viruses which destroy bacteria but appear to be harmless to humans. They are being touted as a possible solution to the growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.