Infection, kill thyself
New wound dressings drive bacteria down a suicidal path
Scientists are turning harmful bacteria into agents of their own destruction. In an effort to create antibacterial wound dressings, a new material comes laden with microbial booby traps that are triggered by the activity of harmful bacteria, scientists report online April 20 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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Bacterial infections are a serious problem for patients with burns and other wounds, says study coauthor Toby Jenkins of the University of Bath in England. While many wound dressings today contain silver to thwart microbial activity, the metal can hurt human cells that are trying to regrow. The silver may also cull out weaker bacteria, leaving the survivors even more of a threat than before.
Jenkins and his colleagues have set out to build a better dressing by peppering it with tiny capsulelike vesicles that look to bacteria exactly like cells prime for infection. But when the bacteria do attack, they release an antibacterial agent that kills them and any of their kind that happen to be nearby.