Novel approaches to the treatment of bacterial biofilm infections

Abstract

Bacterial infection remains a major challenge to healthcare and is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. This situation is becoming complicated by an increasingly ageing and susceptible population and large numbers of bacterial isolates, which have developed resistance to antibiotics. Bacteria that form biofilms and colonize or infect medical devices or wounds are particularly hard to treat as biofilms are inherently highly antibiotic resistant. Most infections have a component where bacteria exist as a biofilm and as a result, prevention or treatment of biofilm-associated infections is highly important. A number of novel strategies to kill biofilms have been in development; these include the use of weak organic acids, photo irradiation and the application of bacteriophage. All have promise and are able to effectively kill biofilms in model systems, but for each there are still unanswered questions. This review summarizes the main features of biofilm infections, each of these novel approaches and the evidence that is still lacking before these potential treatments can be incorporated into clinical usage.

The Antibacterial and Anti-Biofilm Activity of Metal Complexes Incorporating 3,6,9-Trioxaundecanedioate and 1,10-Phenanthroline Ligands in Clinical Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Irish Cystic Fibrosis Patients

“…Conventional antibiotics are active against planktonic cells of P. aeruginosa that cause acute infection, but often fail to completely eradicate their biofilms, leading to persistent infections. It is well documented that pathogenic biofilms from patients demonstrate up to 1000-fold reduced susceptibility in comparison to their planktonic counterparts, due to the protective and altered nature of the biofilm [ 11 ]. Formation of these aggregated communities with their inherent resistance to antibiotics and host immune attack are at the root of many persistent and chronic bacterial infections.…”

Gut Microbiota and Salivary Diagnostics: The Mouth Is Salivating to Tell Us Something

“… 147 To compensate, in the hope of providing a means for reducing the superfluous use of such drugs in our food-production chain in general, agricultural businesses are investigating oral exposure to blue light as a potential replacement for classical antibiotic prophylaxis in food animals. 148 , 149 …”

“… 131 , 153 Oral photo-inactivation is a promising nonobtrusive and nonantibiotic method that may have advantage in this effort. 144 , 149 , 161 …”

Das vaginale Mikrobiom

“…Früher dachte man, dass dies primär auf verminderte Penetration in den Biofilm zurückzuführen ist und die Antibiotika die darin lebenden Bakterien nicht erreichen können. Neueste Untersuchungen [11,16] haben nun übereinstimmend gezeigt, dass Bakterien im Biofilm aufgrund eines verringerten Sauerstoffgradienten und Nährstoffangebots (z. B. Eisen; vgl.…”