New weapon against resistant surgery infections
Wednesday September 10th, 2008
Scientists have discovered a potential new method of killing dangerous bacteria in infected wounds.
Thousands of hospital patients every year develop infected wounds, causing 77 per cent of deaths from surgical operations, as well as longer hospital stays and increased costs.
Dr Ghada Omar of University College London, UK, and colleagues set out to find "a simple, rapid and cheap alternative treatment for infected wounds and ulcers that do not respond to conventional antibiotics".
The team used a dye called indocyanine green, which is inactive in the dark but gives off toxic molecules that rapidly kill bacteria when triggered by near-infrared light.
This approach could help solve the superbug problems faced by surgical patients, believes Dr Omar, as it kills 99 per cent of the potentially dangerous Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in infected wounds.
He presented the method today (September 10) at the Society for General Microbiology's meeting at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
"The chemicals produced when the dye is activated harm the bacteria in such a wide variety of ways that it is unlikely bacteria could ever develop resistance to the treatment," he said. "This makes it ideal - and possibly the only option - for treating infections with multiple drug resistant bacteria, including MRSA."
It is also effective against bacteria in damaged tissues with very low oxygen levels, Dr Omar added.
"Even with low oxygen levels a very wide range of bacteria were killed, including over 70 per cent of Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus, which has become one of the most drug resistant bacteria in hospitals," he said.
The effect of environmental oxygenation on lethal photosensitization of wound-associated organisms using indocyanine green and near-infrared light, presented on Wednesday 10 September 2008 in the Microbial Infection Group session of the Autumn Meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin, September 8-11, 2008.
Tags: MRSA & Hygiene
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