you know that $70000000000.00 are killed worldwide sure so that we can get but it's not just the animals at all suffering it's the environment we went on a journey to find ways out and if you want to go away cliff to the priest alcohol trust changed as they take this listen to our podcast our in the green sense. germs against which antibiotics have become powerless are becoming ever more dangerous in europe alone around $33000.00 people die from them each year the u.s. can do no evil it does now a new wave is coming to our region germs that are completely resistant and some. new treatments have to be found or old ones have to be rediscovered when drugs stop

working patients feel helpless the risk we need to get rid of all the big germs that i have at the moment there are quite enough. to get the pathogens under control scientists in workshops and research laboratories are feverish lee looking for new solutions. can humans win the battle against jumps. you hunnish why guy and his 15 year old daughter polly not have traveled from a scouting unnamed germany to antwerp in belgium to try to get help dangerous germs keep cropping up in pounding as long as she wore a face mask long before the pandemic. i need the mask so that i don't infect other people and so that i don't have myself with any.

in belgium power lena's lungs will be treated using a special therapy the clinic uses viruses known as bacteria phages or phages for short which literally means bacteria eaters. because often that for the past 3 years we've tried in vain to remove the germs from pollen as long with antibiotics and so far we've not been able to get them out completely when they were at the hotel in the spring friends told us about phage therapy and after a long wait we're finally here today. and i hope the phages will bring us success in the next few weeks if there are. these farces destroy bacteria our lino suffers from cystic fibrosis a metabolic disease that makes her lung secretions think this is why germs are always returning to her lungs among them are antibiotic resistant bacteria the

doctors in belgium hope to be able to destroy these germs using phages they tell pollyanna to breathe them and this therapy has not yet been approved in germany bacteria phages are organisms that kemal to apply on their own they are found everywhere in our environment they feel most at home wherever there are also many bacteria like in sewage it's hoped the phages that power is inhaling will reach the dangerous bacteria in her lungs each type of ferry each only ever attacks one specific type of bacteria and reproduces within it if enough ages grow they destroy the bacterium and look for a new one if none of the host bacteria are left in the body the phages die eventually or 2 of course would like this to happen in germany to act on that and when this is approved there it will be a very big step for all patients who have an infection with bacteria that can no longer be treated with antibiotics and if nevada. yes this is doctors used viruses

to treat bacterial infections over 100 years ago but with the discovery of antibiotics for ages well forgotten in the western wild in parts of eastern europe they are still used successfully today and they are currently experiencing a renaissance in belgium the benefits we are hoping is that they will be able to help us combat those infections when to get excited enough anymore well phage therapy be able to help paulina. they have gotten there they detected m.r.s.a. once before and now it's back to being on. m.r.s.a. stands for methicillin resistant staphylococcus 40 years something many patients fear because it's a constant threat for hospital treatment surgeon bent and medical hygiene is to run hendrix other patients with dangerous germs in his sinuses but their hospital in the german dutch border region has a very special prescription for dealing with it the patient used to be

a farmer and belongs to a high risk group because the germs are widespread in cattle stalls as one of them often used to live on the farm do you have pigs or horses or what is on the our farm hasn't had any pigs for a year unfortunately that doesn't help much it takes a lot of time before the germs are gone to business for you know that in 27 team you had a positive nasal m.r.s.a. test result when you went in for another operation and we've now detected m.r.s.a. again at the homes and that's why we're very much in favor of trying to remove this germ from your nose and scatter so that you can get through the operation with as little risk of infection as possible. your hunnish holds a boeing has the multi resistant germ in his sinuses and on his skin it's completely harmless in these locations if it gets into a wound it can lead to a life threatening infection an operation therefore presents a risk for the retired farmer but he needs a new knee joint the host. performing mos won't tasks than most other clinics tasks

about half the patients if there are multiple resistant germs present doctors combat than before the operation because this i'm a bit scared but i've been in a phase like this for 5 years now where i've noticed that when i run things are getting worse for one day to the next and now something has to be done. most of us a lot of. the don't just have significantly compaq on the use of antibiotics. you know the fear this is what the microbiologists and high genesis fear is that we will keep going with that type of audix always trying to support or treat every disease with them without restraint and that makes the germs stronger and stronger even in the image that the fear is that ultimately the germs will make all our antibiotics and in fact that. hendricks wants to further improve the use of antibiotics old antibiotic should be used for pathogens that to not resistant to

them while new ones should be saved for problem germs and then for no longer than necessary. to do this hendrix is also expanded the capacity of the hospital lobar a tree. all of war without a laboratory it's almost impossible to practice good hygiene and good antibiotic stewardship every german hospital with over 400 beds needs its own laboratory to gain better control over the processes and in-house of our tree means more germ tests faster diagnosis and more targeted use of antibiotics in many german hospitals the laboratories were shut down decades ago for reasons of cost but today of more tests have to be performed the costs for the clinics increase it's money many hospitals lack but the needs to be spent never actually if you don't test anyone you don't see any germs if you don't see any germs you don't take any extra hygenic measures and then the patient is not always treated in good time or with

the right antibiotics or no hygiene means the germs will spread further rides that's just a few years ago it was thought that the medical profession had infectious diseases under control thanks to antibiotics in 128 alexander fleming from scotland discovered a moment that killed pathogens he called it penicillin it came into its own during world war 2 due to the launch number of wounded the us put it into mass production fleming recognized early on that bacteria could become resistant to penicillin. when he received the nobel prize in 1905 caution bought in vain and go to this is center gun multi resistant germs are not hospital term policy in our hospital and others we have found that over 95 percent of the people who are in fact that with these germs bring them from outside that you can catch them in our hospital that's

the guards doesn't that means that there is much to be done and if we don't do anything the problems will get worse and worse than the next mom so for hospitals it is an important problem an important point when. antibiotic resistant germs thrive. wherever a lot of antibiotics are administered such as in agriculture the drugs can only kill the bacteria that are not resistant the others multiply. due to the widespread use of antibiotics in meat production they also spread in animal stalls and manure the retired farmers germs also came from agriculture disinfectants are used to help reduce the dangerous bacteria on his skin and nose before his operation. and i was amazed because we hadn't had any pigs for a year that the germs were still there i would have preferred if they hadn't noticed. will he be able to reduce the number of germs and now that

he's nice surgery can go well work focuses on ensuring that the dangerous germs patients bring in do not spread further in hospitals. or. researchers in the danish city of ordinance are aiming to revolutionize the killing of pathogens in hospital rooms with modern technology. for thomas cleaning robots. the robot brings together 2 technologies mobile navigation and you can see like a big a been both are important because the ultraviolet light that is installed here kills the bacteria in the room that is being disinfected the important thing about you is the like is that it can go where it is needed. what it. company.

pushed the developments of the robot forward friends of his had lost family members to resistant germs in the future he hopes robots like these can help to better disinfect hospital rooms the model in the company cardo is a dummy without u.v. radiation. nowadays around 8 to 10 percent of all people treated in hospital pick up an infection. by assisting the cleaning staff with the robot infection rates are reduced so it saves lives and save st helens. in a testing room engineer paljor nielsen applies test strips with agreat to u.b.c. radiation the higher the exposure the darker they become. the parts taken by the robot can be programmed precisely room by room accounting for the furniture and

floorplan. radiation would be fatal for humans so the robot has to work alone in the room most importantly it must disinfect the places where the germs build up high touch surfaces. if given food here we can clearly demonstrate that the maximum radiation outward reached these high touch surfaces when we disinfected them if if we see and the u.v. see radiation here and on all the services in the room was high enough to kill 99.99 percent of all the bacteria for this official. colleen and her father your highness are waiting for the next round of phage therapy at the antwerp university hospital. don't to tina boy uses bacteria phages to kill the germs in germany and many other european countries these viruses have not yet been approved as a medical treatment. ductile says that it would make the most sense to approve the

entire bacteria phages manufacturing process the focus of what to do this you would have to relax some of the existing approval procedures in many countries there is no legal framework to make exceptions but here in belgium we have now done jesse at least of acquittal to 4 years we were looking for a way to allow phage treatments while ensuring patient safety i believe that is why this has failed in other countries and it is that these little. doreen teunis prepares the phages for power lena in the hospital pharmacy where every pathogen medical professionals have to find and breed suitable bacteria phages for those in takes place here in the clinic. this is the bacteria phages solution it comes from a military hospital in brussels we only use it for infections with very specific multi resistant germs that we prepared here in our pharmacy we only do this every

few months we've had another patient before but it's all pretty new to us. the high security at the laboratory is purely a precautionary measure because the side effects of the failures are not yet. the doctors determine the dose individually for each patient. so far paulina has tolerated the pages while she's supposed to inhale the viruses one past time in the clinic then she can continue the therapy and have. her just a few life feel that my lungs have already become a bit silly or apart from a cough and my voice goes sounds a bit strange now but they're letting me go home today. no longer. supposed to inhale the pages several times a day for 3 weeks if the virus therapy does not bring the desired results she faces

a 2nd round this time intravenously with a needle and she would have to go to antwerp for 4 weeks not something her father and the doctors would like to avoid. so let's hope that the heirs of the loan will be definitely don't have to come back for the 2nd part of the treatment that will follow it up in the next 2 weeks we will be checking her sputum sample every week and we'll have to see whether or not and at what point we won't be able to culture . right now so i can't predict it if it's in the 1st week then we'll throw a party i think it'll be very soon but it's also possible that in the 2nd or 3rd week or or not at all we don't know to find all the germs and to dissolve the secretion in her lungs lena has to inhale several times a day both with fay juice and antibiotics i think it's a good combination. does under they have to about it doesn't harm the phages

because they're viruses and left ages don't harm the antibiotic and. there aren't a lot of studies on this and intensive research is needed because it's obvious multi resistant germs will cause more and more problems for us in. the schneiders we'll only know in 3 weeks whether the therapy has worked. not only faders and spread to hygiene promise solutions new drugs are also being developed. in reagan's book molecular biologist martin gleason is looking for ways out of the antibiotic crisis for the biotech company to sando he has developed a process with which he can specifically fight any type of bacteria using artificially produced protein and symes. is a. basic building blocks come from nature. we

optimize enzymes that are used by phages primarily to emerge from the bacterial cell at the end of their reproduction cycle. the basic idea is to make the bacteria burst from the outside like a balloon. but. once the phages have found a suitable bacterium they multiply within it june this phase they produce and signs if enough and signs of present they cause the host bacterium to burst and so gleason produces these and slimes artificially optimizing them to attack bacteria in the human body he calls his invention are to license. the 1st volunteers like i guess have already been tested with them the geriatric nurse suffers from neuro dermatitis again and again stuffy local concours inflation on her skin it's getting so bad that she might have to give up our work. sucks that he's been all

stopped yet my doctor said he tried everything he saw there was nothing left and e-mail us and so he didn't know what to do with me anymore but then you read about this and said we could ask for a sample they are my and paul and then within 2 or 3 days of trying it out you could see how everything went away you see and we are just looking at it healed the skin stoppage saying. it was a miracle. martina gristle did a lot of tests and no resistance ever developed a r.t. license so does the reagan birth biotech company have a solution to the fight against germs. doesn't matter in its neon i believe that in recent years we have seen that the problem of multi resistant germs has come more and more into focus and our technology in particular offers many advantages over classic antibiotics the kind of assistance resistance does not develop and we can kill a large number of germs in a very specific way to. be

a factor of cases r.t. license is visible under the microscope they destroy the target bacteria in a fraction of a 2nd but there is a long way to go before the enzymes can be turned into medicine the small company needs support from the pharmaceutical industry. and that's what martine kriesel found in the western german city. hall because im a mom wants to bring a license to market. his pharmaceutical company by couriers he's one of the few worldwide that are researching new antibiotics and that presented with a great opportunity for it's a serious thing for us it's very important because it's the 1st step toward use in human pharmaceuticals that's a big milestone for a biotechnology company y. and shine the potential of the new development is impressive even

a small dose is enough to read a highly concentrated germ solution of pathogens within minutes streptococcus are responsible for the milky count in us if you just made this streptococcus germ solution i'm about to add a controlled substance at r.t. license to compare them you'll see that within 5 to 6 minutes the cloudiness will be different so the germs. burst and are destroyed and as a result the solution loses as cloudy this. time lapse shows how the anti license destroy the county jumps. very human medicine this would be a huge step because you have a completely different class of ingredients a completely different mechanism and model of action where you can work against existing resistances this is a new weapon against resistant germs is the decline for many pharmaceutical companies the search for new antibiotics is not worthwhile because new drugs have

to be kept back as reserve antibiotics and only used to emergences use levels would probably be low and development costs would be higher. when we talk about resistance it's like an arms race because the bacteria will always mutate and build resistance you constantly have to keep up with them because they never stop trying to defend themselves against the drugs were developing its own and durrance raise a lot of it love. the employees regularly analyze the global resistance situation dangerous in testimony germs are gaining ground that antibiotics can do little to stop 5 percent of hospital germs are resistant even in the netherlands a country with exemplary public hygiene. in germany that's now 12.2 percent and you can see it increasing and it's a similar story in poland austria and spain the us there's no country under 5

percent anymore i think that's pretty dramatic with the germs. a new approach trying to provided by artificial enzymes is not without challenges. if i come up with innovative approaches that have never been tested in humans there's of course a certain risk because they 1st have to prove their effectiveness in humans and it takes time to develop them from scratch. we have to say and. believe there will be a solution must be a solution because the problem is so serious on the news on the in the us problem is of course it may take another 5 to 10 years before r.t. license are ready for the market as drunks paulina's fades therapy in belgium has now ended at home jane hails a harmless say line solution worker move your upper body so the bakers can get deep into your lungs and called.

the phage years worked. out lena finds it much easier to breathe she finally feels like working out again and exercise is good for her lungs. well the 1st shot and how much 122 was not bad better than last time. if i do the poem unary function test elizabeth's are good it also influences my mood was this i usually feel better immediately i have more motivation and i'm somehow happier if you know better because i feel like i can do more. because of her illness how lina has to catch up with a lot of school work at home it's much easier for her to study 101 that clear she is doing much better but doctors can still detect dangerous germs in her lungs so

she is considering going to antwerp again with her father for another round of phage therapy. doctors here at present agnes hospital in buckled have already made great strides in the fight against the germs and by applying hygiene concepts from the netherlands standards have increased and antibiotic consumption has decreased reg. training and south monitoring are important factors for rum hendrix and it is incredibly interesting that in the last 20 to 25 years in microbiology the approach to hygiene has changed 100 times more than in almost any other discipline the smartness that makes it very interesting and also means that we always need to be on the ball and be able to explain to people what is going on that some $113.00 hospitals are taking part in a cross border network more and more german clinics are adopting dutch standards in vocal to before doctors operated on your highness' troops are growing the treatment

significantly reduced the number of dangerous jumps while the wound was open during the operation he was given a one time reserve antibiotic that was all that was needed and i'm so really. it's such a weight off me. i'm about to try to take some steps with crutches that's really good. in the moonstone and clinic the doctors have the germs under control but for ron hendrix that's no reason for complacency as for how we proceed now will help us to keep these germs under control in the long term we need to restrict prescription of antibiotics preferably using the oldest drugs we need good hygiene taking swabs so we know who is infected with which germs so we can act accordingly and no matter what we can think of the germs already have an answer of. the fight against the killer germs can never be entirely won but we might be able to keep

them under control with better hygiene new drugs and only using antibiotics as a last resort.

in a world filled with beautiful images talk of 1st have to work hard to stand out. to find. this compromise. the perfect moment. or just have some pretty crazy ideas by. quaintly this camera was made out of cheese lived. in 30. 2.

small seen the great powers just a handful of chemical giants who dominate the industry manipulating plants and the markets however they please because of them some crops that are thousands of years old almost extinct but farmers and consumers are left with no other choice. than 75 minutes on d w. 3 up today don't miss our highlights w. program online w dark come highlights. the new year minard years years we've been here you can hire last year's german chancellor i want to bring you an angle

a man called and you've never heard her before surprised yourself with what is possible who is magical what moves and what somebody who talks to people who follows her along the way admirers and critics alike how is the world's most powerful woman shaping her legacy joining us from eccles law stops. life 1st of all coming to an end. but gigantic coincidence. that previously the earth was just a mess the chemistry lab of mission was. where the impossible but such was the creation of our solar system with our planet is a bit like winning the lottery there is such a. starts feb 11th

on t.w. . this is news live from berlin taking stock in the world's fight against corona virus a year after the world health organization south of the a mom about 19 we'll look at the progress made and the difficult road ahead also coming up russian authorities for the public to join protests in support the country's opposition tensions are high on the.