According to the National Institutes of Health, each year nearly 2 million Americans contract infections while hospitalized. With the problem of hospital infections so widespread, researchers have worked diligently to develop a new bacteria-killing bandage – and not just a bandage that can kill ordinary bacteria. Gregory Schultz, a biochemist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, notes that the microbicidal bandage coating can kill the most harmful bacteria: multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria, referred to as “super bugs.” Because these types of bacteria can enter the body by way of catheters, IVs, ventilators or wounds, seriously ill hospitalized patients are particularly prone to such infections as staph, which results from the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria entering the body through an open cut or skin break.
How does the bandage work? The microbial coating, which blocks bacteria from reaching a wound and “recolonizing” there, is chemically bonded to gauze bandages. “The microbicidal agent – that’s the thing that kills the bacteria — is permanently bonded on the surface of the fibers of the dressing,” Schultz explains. He notes that the coating’s structure makes it almost impossible for bacteria to become resistant to it. And adds Chris Batich, a biomaterials expert at the University of Florida: “What we wound up with is a surface that you can wash. And whenever it touches bacteria, it kills the bacteria and keeps on killing them.”
The coating can also be bonded to hospital gowns and bed sheets, helping reduce the risk of other patients and staff becoming infected. In addition, fabric with the coating permanently adhered to it can be efficiently mass-produced and made into antifungal socks and microbicidal underwear. These can be used by soldiers working in the field to help stop athletes foot. The researchers have applied for a patent on this chemical bonding process. “What we developed in the lab has to be able to be adapted into industrial manufacturing, and the breakthrough came when we figured out how to do that,” Schultz notes.
News Release: Bacteria-killing bandage biochemists create microbicidal coating to fight hospital infections. www.sciencedaily.com March 1, 2009
