Scientists from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) have come up with a new strategy to fight infections on prostheses.
It may be rare, but when it happens, it can cause grave consequences. As the world population gets older, a growing number of people need prosthetic implants, and sometimes those can get infected, with an enormous impact on the patient’s quality of life – think in terms of operations, antibiotics and so on. Part of the difficulty in treating those infections lies in the fact that the bacteria responsible can form so-called biofilms on the surface of the prosthetics.
Enter: enzymes-enhanced antibiotic therapy, targeting the bacteria where it hurts, that is to say the biofilm. The researchers have developed a hydrogel, allowing for targeted, localised treatment in which the enzymes disintegrate the film so the antibiotics can attack the bacteria effectively.
This revolutionary new approach managed to remove over 99.9% of bacteria on the implants they tested the treatment on, and it could help avoid heavy surgery as the gel can simply be injected.
Another Belgian academic success story with tremendous potential in the real world.
