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Lab Research
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A comparison of the antimicrobial efficacy of two silver ion containing absorptive fiber dressings First Author: Debashish Chakravarthy Authors: Debashish Chakravarthy Ph.D, FAPWCA, Margaret Falconio-West RN, CWOCN Introduction: Silver dressings are ideal for infection prone burns (1), the inherent painful nature of burn wounds makes dressing changes painful (2). Antimicrobial dressings should be ideally used for prolonged periods to minimize dressing change trauma and to maximize healing. The dressings must then possess long term antimicrobial efficacy. We compared antimicrobial efficacies of two silver dressings: 1. silver carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)-alginate* 2. silver carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) ** Method: Eight pathogens (106 cfu/ml) were introduced to the dressings (20 ml broth/36 cm2 dressings). Samples were rechallenged on days 7/14. Microbes were counted over 21 days. Results: The CMC-alginate silver* dressing had non-detectable levels of pathogens at every point over 21 days with brief spikes following re-challenges. The pure CMC** silver dressing was unable to control pathogens post day 14 on 3 of 8 micro-organisms tested. Conclusion: The CMC-Alginate* based silver dressing had sustained activity compared to the CMC** based product. In wounds such as burn wounds, the product with greater sustained activity is likely to be more successful in clinical use. Prolonged usability of antimicrobial products leads to reduction in pain associated with frequent dressing changes and prevents disturbance of healing. * Maxorb ¨ Ag, Medline Industries, Mundelein, IL ** Aquacel¨ Ag, Convatec, a Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ |
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