Doctors are always concerned about the potential development of infections on patients after surgeries. Scientists have recently developed a prototype wound dressing that can signal developing infections to reduce the risk. The wound dressing works by glowing into bright fluorescent colour when detecting the presence of bacteria in the wound.

The immune clearance in the body commonly monitors the bacteria present in each wound. However, some bacteria could critically colonise wounds and develop and live in a biofilm, the slimy substance composed of external DNA, complex sugars and proteins. The formation of biofilms can cause pathogenic changes in the wounds that could be harmful, the researchers said.

The new prototype wound dressing detects the changes in the bacterial activity of the wound and can measure its “critical colonisation point,” Dr Toby Jenkins, co-author of the study, told IFL Science.

The study, published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, shows that the rate of detection of the biofilms from pathogenic, or harmful strains, was significantly fast. Scientists from the University of Bath and other English institutes have developed the dressing.

Tests results show that the wound dressing took four hours to reveal the presence of bacteria after the initial vaccination, but it only took minutes to respond on an established biofilm. The prototype wound dressing was used to detect infection-causing bacteria E. coli and S. aureus in the tests.

If the dressing becomes available to the market, the scientists said that it could be useful for post-surgery recovery. “If used appropriately, we believe it can be used for early diagnosis of post-surgical infection and hence [indirectly] in reducing incidences of sepsis,” Jenkins said.

The team is currently working on safety testing, manufacturing pathway for the technology, and their plan to conduct a clinical trial in three years.

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