A SMART BANDAGE
A 'smart' bandage which illuminates as it releases bug-busting antibiotics into
wounds
is
being
developed
by
British
scientists.
A “self-medicating” bandage could become a mainstay of burns units. Laced with
nanoparticles, it detects harmful bacteria in a wound and responds by secreting
antibiotics.
“Fifty per cent of all people who die as a result of burn injuries do so as a direct
consequence of infection, which is why this research is so important,” says Toby
Jenkins from the University of Bath in the UK, who is developing the bandage with
an
international
team
of
researchers.
Harmful bacteria cause infections by attacking cells with toxins that dissolve the cell
membrane. “Friendly” bacteria, which help the body to function, don’t carry this
toxic arsenal. This simple difference is the big idea behind Jenkins’s smart bandages.
Hewondered if pathogenic bacteria could be made the agents of their own
destruction by using their toxins to rupture vesicles containing an antimicrobial
agent. If this worked, the vesicles could be attached to bandages that would release
antibiotics only if a wound became infected. “This reduces the risk of the evolution
of new antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as MRSA,” says Jenkins. The vesicles
would also contain a dye, so the dressing would change colour if it came in contact
with
dangerous
bacteria,
alerting
doctors
of
an
infection.
The bandage changes colour as the medication is triggered - alerting doctors and
nurses there is infection in the wound. boon. 'Your skin is normally home to billions
of 'friendly' bacteria which it needs to stay healthy.
The dressing could be also used for treating burns, ulcers or soldiers injured in
action. Project leader Dr Toby Jenkins of Bath University said: 'If this was available
right now it would be extremely useful for our soldiers in Afghanistan. 'Being injured
in the desert or the battlefield makes them extremely prone to infection so such a
dressing
for
their
wounds
would
be
a
tremendous
The dressing is only triggered by disease-causing bacteria which produce toxins that
break open capsules containing the antibiotics and dye which makes it take on a
green hue.
'This means antibiotics are only released when needed which reduces the risk of the
evolution of new antibiotic-resistant super-bugs such as MRSA.
'We are making a prototype at the moment and hope we could start clinical testing
in about three years.'