Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums, for communication between foot health professionals about podiatry and related topics.
You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members (PM), upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, earn CPD points and access many other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisments in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Yahoo Health are reporting: Antibiotic-Coated Medical Devices Could Cut Infections
Quote:
FRIDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- In the future, hospital patients may have a new weapon to fight infection after surgery: powerful antibiotic coatings attached to implants, catheters, surgical instruments and other medical devices.
Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi say they've developed a way to attach penicillin, and potentially other antibiotics, to these types of devices.
Almost 2 million patients in the United States get an infection in the hospital each year, and about 90,000 of those patients die each year as a result of their infection, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Many of these infections are linked to medical devices. But, "modifying [device] surfaces to adhere penicillin kills bacteria," explained lead researcher and professor of polymer science Marek W. Urban. "The penicillin is able to destroy the colony of bacteria," he said.
Urban's team has found a way to modify the surface of poly(tetrafluoroethylene), a material similar to Teflon, so that penicillin sticks to it and remains highly active. This polymer is used in medical procedures ranging from blood vessel grafting to plastic and reconstructive surgery.
The trick was to modify the surface of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) so that arms would stick out from the surface, which the penicillin could stick to, and that would, in turn, surround bacteria and kill it, Urban said.
In their experiments, expected to be published in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Biomacromolecules, the researchers showed that these penicillin-coated surfaces could effectively kill Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium responsible for many serious infections.
Antibiotic-Coated Instruments Could Cut Infections
Linear Mode
