Play
Stop
Six One News: Eimear Lowe reports that ionic liquids have been tested on resistant bacteria found in hospitals and killed them
Play
Stop
Nine News: Eimear Lowe reports that scientists at Queen's University in Belfast say they have developed a new way of fighting hospital superbugs
It is hoped the breakthrough can be used to tackle MRSA and similar infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
It involves using special salts that can be used to kill or prevent the growth of colonies of dangerous bacteria.
The development was carried out by eight researchers from the Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories centre.
A spokesperson for Quill said it hopes 'something like this will be taken up in hospitals, particularly for cleaning surfaces'.
'The whole point of an ionic liquid is that is doesn't evaporate, so once it is on a surface absolutely no bacteria will grow on that surface.
'Even resistant bacteria like MRSA have no resistance whatsoever to ionic liquids.'
