Clever dressing detects infection

UK Scientists have developed what they say will be a revolutionary medical dressing using nanotechnology that changes colour when an infection is present.

In 2008, 13-month-old Isambard Ebbutt pulled a boiling hot cup of tea over himself, causing 32% burns. He was treated by a team at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and fully recovered from his injuries, but many children develop potentially fatal infections after being burned.

Infection can lead to toxic shock syndrome – a potentially fatal condition – but removing dressings to treat infection can be just as traumatic for the child. This new colour-changing dressing will alert medical staff to an infection before it can take hold.

“The dressing is only triggered by disease-causing bacteria, which produce toxins that break open capsules containing the antibiotics and dye,” said Dr Toby Jenkins, project leader at the University of Bath, “This means that antibiotics are released only when needed, which reduces the risk of the evolution of new antibiotic-resistant super-bugs such as MRSA.”

Amber Young, a paediatric burns specialist, said: “We’re really excited about this project – every day we see young children who are seriously ill from burns who would hugely benefit from this research.”

“The colour change acts as an early warning system that infection is present meaning we can treat it much faster, reducing the trauma to the child and cutting the time they have to spend in hospital,” she said.

The dressing – coated in antibacterial nanocapsules using a plasma reactor –could also be used on other types of wound, such as ulcers or by the military in the battlefield. The researchers have tested fabric coated in the nanocapsules and have shown they react specifically to harmful bacteria.