A novel wound dressing for infection control and tissue regeneration

Chronic wounds that fail to respond to traditional therapeutic interventions afflict millions of people each year and independent of the growing concerns of antibiotic resistance. Wound infections can be very difficult to treat not only due to the growing challenges related to antibiotic resistance but the difficulty in treating wounds in particular due to the presence of biofilms, a bacterial defense mechanism that protects bacteria from the host environment, and makes antibiotics less effective. A biofilm consists of a community of bacteria encompassed by an extracellular matrix which efficiently resists the action of antibiotics and the host immune response. Bacteria in the biofilm state are approximately one-thousand times more resistant to antibiotics, and there are currently no reliable therapeutic strategies available for dispersing pre-formed biofilms