Evaluating antimicrobial efficacy of new commercially available silver dressings

Abstract

Prevention and treatment of bacterial colonised/infected wounds are critical. Many commercially available silver dressings claim broad-spectrum bactericidal activity over days and are indicated for serious conditions including burns and ulcers. However, there is no peer-reviewed literature available for many newer dressings. This study compared the activity of some of these dressings. Six silver-containing dressings were compared using log reduction, silver release and corrected zone of inhibition assays. Only the nanocrystalline silver dressing was bactericidal against Staphylococcus aureus, and the only other dressing that produced any log reduction was a silver collagen matrix dressing. These two dressings and a silver alginate dressing produced zones of inhibition, although the collagen matrix and alginate dressings had decreasing zone sizes over time, and the latter liquefied after five transfers. The remaining dressings (two ionic silver foam dressings and a silver sulphate dressing) did not produce zones of inhibition. For the foam, alginate and collagen matrix dressings, antimicrobial activity was related to silver release. The silver sulphate dressing released large quantities of silver, but only through the dressing edges, as the wound-contacting surface appeared to be hydrophobic. The results of this study emphasise the importance of confirming product claims regarding silver dressing efficacy.

Antimikrobinės atsparumas. Naujos antimikrobinės medžiagos lėtinėms trofinėms opoms gydyti

“…The low efciency of antibacterial agents, multiple adverse reactions dictate the need of searching for new highly effective remedies. So, researchers often pay attention to herbal substances as sources for biologically active compounds which have a modifying activity against the pathogenic and persistent potential of microbes [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

Application of the Nanocrystalline Silver in Treatment of Burn Wounds in Children

“…Some examples are Acticoat (Smith & Nephew), Actisorb Silver 220 (Johnson & Johnson), Aquacel -Ag (Convatec), Arglaes (Medline, Mundelein), Contreet -H (Coloplast, Marietta), SilvaSorb (Medline) and Silverlon® (Argentum LLC). The comparison of the silver dressings is usually based on the bacteriology (Cavanagh et al, 2010). Thus, differences are noticed in the field of inhibition, with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) as a result of the antimicrobial activity of the agent.…”

A holistic exploration of paediatric partial thickness burn care in the outpatient setting

“…Hydrofibre and alginate dressings are very rarely used for paediatric patients in Australasia. Multiple research studies [10][11][12][13][14][15] have shown silver to be effective against a variety of gram positive and negative bacteria. While it is well known that silver can be cytotoxic to healthy keratinocytes, prevention of infection, in particular toxic shock syndrome, even in small burns, is prioritized over promoting wound re-epithelialization for paediatric patients in Australia and New Zealand.…”

“…Acticoat TM has been found in a number of in vitro trials to be effective against a broad spectrum of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Furthermore, Acticoat™ when used to treat patients with burn injuries was found to be significantly associated with a lower rate of adverse events (colonizations or infections) than those participants treated with the SSD or other non-silver dressings and applications [11,12].…”

“…Unfortunately the antibacterial agents in burns dressings are also cytotoxic to keratinocytes: therefore, a fine balance is required between the prevention of a wound infection and the promotion of wound healing [11]. Despite the known cytotoxic effects of antibacterial dressings, they help prevent not only infections (which can delay the rate of reepithelialization) but also the possibility of toxic shock syndrome (TSS), which is most likely to occur in the first three days post-burn injury and if left untreated can be fatal [65][66][67].…”