TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have developed an antimicrobial coating that can be chemically bonded to gauze bandages, socks and hospital bedding and gowns to prevent the spread of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The coating, which kills the two most common and harmful kinds of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause infections in hospitals, works by blocking the bacteria's ability to reach and re-colonize wounds. Bacteria should also have a tough time becoming resistant to the coating, which was designed to thwart such resistance.
"These technologies are especially timely given the threats that are facing the American public, such as antibiotic-resistant bugs occurring in hospitals across the world. This has the potential to be used widely," Christopher Batich, a University of Florida (UF) professor of biomedical engineering and one of the coating's inventors, said in a prepared statement.
Clinical trials of the coating in gauze will be conducted at UF later this year.
Each year, nearly 2 million people in the United States contract infections while they're in hospital, says the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause about 70 percent of those infections.
More information
The American College of Physicians has more about antibiotic resistance.
