LAUSR

One of the sources of infections in hospitals is the presence of potentially harmful bacteria on the skin surface (carriage) of a patient without the development of an infection, but which can spread to other people under certain conditions. Bacteria living on the skin surface can also contribute to worsening of eczema. The current methods of ridding the skin of these microbes (bacteria) involves giving the patient either topical (on the skin) or oral (by mouth) antibiotics, a strategy which, over time, is thought to have caused antibiotic resistance, meaning the antibiotics can no longer kill the bacteria. The study described in this paper was carried out by a group from the University of Regensburg in Germany. They used excised pig and human skin samples to which they had added drug resistant bacteria, such as methicillin resistant staphylococci or MRSA, and then treated the skin with a chemical in solution that acts by increasing sensitivity to light. Skin samples were then exposed to a source of light, a process known as photodynamic activation. They found that this technique led to a large reduction in the numbers of bacteria, without damage to skin cells. The authors suggest that this process should now be investigated as a safer method of reducing surface bacterial carriage without increasing the risk of bacterial resistance and without damaging the skin.