Washington State University researchers have come up with a potential new weapon in the war on drug-resistant superbugs: Using electrical stimulation to kill bacterial infections.

For the first time, the scientists found that an electric current passed over a film of bacteria killed almost all of a multi-drug resistant bacterium within 24 hours.

The research appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

"We have been doing fundamental research on this for many years, and finally, we are able to transfer it to technology,'' said lead researcher Haluk Beyenal, a professor in WSU's Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. Beyenal. "It's really exciting.''

If the technique can be refined, it could provide a new way to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause at least two million infections and 23,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.