Antiseptics（杀菌剂) have saved countless lives, but they are most effective when the bacte

Antiseptics(杀菌剂) have saved countless lives, but they are most effective when the bacteria they are attacking are individual cells in suspension. Once bacteria have attached themselves to solid surfaces and formed films, they are far harder to eradicate with standard disinfectants. Bacterial pollution of medical devices is a particular problem, as those devices are then used on people whose immune systems may be in less than best condition. Surgical instruments may be treated with ultraviolet light, but that is not appropriate for everything. The result is that infections arising from bacteria attached to surfaces in clinics and hospitals are reckoned to cause up to 1.4m deaths per year.

In order to develop a better method of disinfection, a team led by David Whitten of the University of New Mexico and Kirk Schanze of the University of Florida set out to design the equivalent of a mousetrap for bacteria. The device they came up with is an empty capsule five microns across. It is made of alternating layers of two polymers'(聚合体) ,one of which is positively charged, and the other negatively so. These opposite charges serve to hold the capsule together.

The polymers in question also absorb light in a way that is likely to transfer the absorbed energy to nearby oxygen molecules (氧分子) to create what is known as singlet oxygen, a particularly reactive form. of the element that would kill any bacteria inside the capsule.

To test this idea, the two researchers ran a series of experiments in which they exposed their newly built microcapsules to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a fatal bacterium commonly, found in hospitals, and also to Cobetia marina, a bacterium that frequently adheres to ships and marine equipment, causing dirt. They found that in both cases the microcapsules attracted and captured bacteria that were nearby. After one hour of exposure to light, they report in a forthcoming issue of Applied Materials & Interfaces, the capsules killed more than 95% of the bacteria used in the study.

What kills the bacteria is clear: it is the singlet oxygen. What is attracting them into the microcapsules, though, is not well understood. The researchers infer that the positive electric charge may have the function of attracting bacteria, since many bacteria are negatively charged and would thus be attracted to the polymer in question. Alternatively, because both bacteria and polymers are repelled by water they may be pushed together by this joint repulsion. However it works, the result is what Dr. Whitten describes as a micro-sized Roach Motel ("Bacteria check in, but they don't check out"). If the idea can be scaled up, it may prove a useful weapon in the fight against hospital-caused infection and marine-dirt alike.

According to the passage, the antiseptics will be less effective when ______.

A．the bacteria are floating in individual cells

B．the bacteria pollute the medical devices in the hospital

C．the bacteria adhere to solid surfaces, wrapped by films

D．the disinfectants are not so standard