The dressing glows brightly when a wound becomes infected.

Technology will allow clinicians to quickly identify infections 

Scientists have developed a prototype medical dressing that changes colour when it detects infection.

It is hoped that the dressing will improve treatments for burns victims and help tackle the global problem of antibiotic resistance by reducing the need to use antibiotics unnescessarily.

Project leader Dr Toby Jenkins from the University of Bath explains: “Our medical dressing works by releasing fluorescent dye from nanocapsules triggered by the toxins secreted by disease-causing bacteria within the wound.

“The nanocapsules mimic skin cells in that they only break open when toxic bacteria are present; they aren’t affected by the harmless bacteria that normally live on healthy skin.

“Using this dressing will allow clinicians to quickly identify infections without removing it, meaning that patients can be diagnosed and treated faster. It could really help to save lives."

Almost £1 million of funding has been awarded to the research team to test the responsiveness of the prototype dressing to samples taken from the wounds of burns victims.

Dr Amber Young from the Healing Foundation Children's Burns Research Centre will be helping Dr Jenkins test the new dressing on real patients.

Amber said: “Children are at particular risk of serious infection from even a small burn. However, with current methods clinicians can’t tell whether a sick child might have a raised temperature due to a serious bacterial burn wound infection, or just from a simple cough or cold.

“Being able to detect infection quickly and accurately with this wound dressing will make a real difference to the lives of thousands of young children by allowing doctors to provide the right care at the right time, and also, importantly, reduce the global threat of antibiotic resistance.”

The work to understand how the dressing responds to problematic bacteria in wounds will be coordinated by Dr Brian Jones from the University of Brighton.  

Dr Jones added: “This new dressing technology will not only help clinicians provide the best possible treatment for patients with burns, but could also tell us a lot about how wound infections begin and how they affect the normal healing process. This could in turn lead to even further advances in treating these infections.”

Once proven to effectively detect infection in swab samples, the researchers plan to work with a healthcare company to develop the dressing for use in hospitals.

Image (C) University of Bath