Nanoantibiotics: strategic assets in the fight against drug-resistant superbugs

Antimicrobial characteristics of metals reveal that Ag despite its economic constraints remains the most popular antibiotic agent. Antimicrobial characteristics of copper nanoparticles (CNPs) are not well understood. To our knowledge, no systematic comparative study on microbial properties of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) and CNPs exists. In this article, a comparative study on microbial properties of engineered metal nanoantibiotics against clinically important strains has been attempted. Our results indicate that biocidal activities of CNPs are better than SNPs. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of CNPs are 10 times lower than the corresponding MICs of SNPs. These improved biocidal activities of CNPs would make it affordable and potent nontraditional antibiotics against which microbes are least susceptible to develop any drug resistance.