In what reads like science fiction, a new study published in the journal ACS Central Science reports the development of bandages that detect the presence of bacteria in wounds and change color, depending on whether they are drug-sensitive or drug-resistant. This is an important step in helping patients recover better. There are also bandages for specific uses, like orthopedic bandage, and fixation bandage.
Drug resistance – the problem
Drug resistance is among the greatest threats to worldwide health. If bacterial infections could be sensed early enough to treat them before they take a hold on the patient, it would help avoid serious infections. And if the bacteria resist the antibiotic, being able to detect this would be crucial in switching drugs to arrest the infection before it spreads.
At present, the methods of detecting antibiotic resistance are expensive, require professional expertise, and take too much time. Moreover, using antibiotics for infections that are resistant to them promotes even more drug resistance.
Colorimetric methods to the rescue
The new study describes a way of doing just this, based on a color-changing material. Described as “a portable paper-based band-aid (PBA)”, it is a colorimetric way of sensing and treating sensitive bacterial infections while signaling the presence of drug-resistant bacteria as well.
Early detection of infection in this study exploits the microenvironment of bacterial growth, which includes an acidic pH, various toxins and enzymes. Acidity is an easy way to track the presence of pathogenic bacteria because it is due to their breakdown of glucose. Drug resistance, on the other hand, depends on the presence of the beta-lactamase and similar enzymes. The presence of beta-lactamase is a widely used indicator of bacterial antibiotic resistance because it denotes resistance to the extremely common beta-lactam antibiotics.