Wound infection is the single-most important complication encountered in the management of chronic non-healing wounds. More than 10 million US patients per annum, at a cost of greater than $10 billion, receive treatment for chronic wounds. Microorganisms not only interfere with the wound healing process but use open areas as portals of entry for systemic infection. Current clinical strategies rely on the use of topical or systemic antibiotics for controlling wound bioburden. In Phase I we proposed studying the feasibility of incorporating wound exudate responsive chemistry capable of producing elemental iodine directly into a moist wound dressing material. Iodine is antimicrobial at non-toxic levels for tissue but is extremely unstable in its antimicrobial I2 form. Our proposal involved encapsulation of iodine precursors along with conversion chemistry directly into a well known wound contact material. The Phase I results found that signals commonly found in wound exudate fluid triggered the conversion of iodine precursors to antimicrobial elemental iodine. The Phase II studies are aimed at refining the chemistry of the reaction to provide greater control on the rates of production and sustained release of the iodine. Completion of these studies will yield a novel wound sensing antimicrobial dressing for controlling wound bioburden.
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