I have personally used acticoat, it is how I realized just how awesome the
power of silver can be. I've had a few pressure sores that were treated with
acticoat and they healed much quicker than with any other dressing. But we all
know the value of silver here, just another positive on silver's résumé.
Kent
----- Original Message -----
From: bbanever
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 6:24 AM
Subject: CS>
Could a dressing help in superbug fight?
By Nick Triggle
BBC News health reporter
An Austrian doctor believes a dressing containing silver can virtually
eradicate the cross infection of MRSA in hospitals. But can this
dressing, which is already used in the UK to treat burns victims,
really have an impact on the NHS, where the so-called superbug is
wreaking havoc?
A simple dressing would seem little use in the fight against the
superbug which is sweeping across Britain's hospital wards and
operating theatres. After all, hospital-acquired infections, such as
MRSA, kill 5,000 a year and cost the NHS £1bn.
But a dressing, laced with silver, may well prove the best weapon in
the fight against MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus),
according to an Austrian expert.
For more than a year Professor Robert Strohal, associate professor of
dermatology at the Federal Academic Hospital in Feldkirch, studied the
effectiveness of a silver-impregnated dressing, called Acticoat, at two
hospitals.
Death
Wounds infected with MRSA were covered with the dressing, which works
by releasing silver ions into the wound for up to seven days, ridding
the patient of the infection.
He found that in 95% of the tests, which were performed on patients for
three days after applying the dressing, the infection had not escaped.
What is more, the dressing had helped to reduce the level of infections
in two-thirds of cases - particularly important as MRSA is extremely
resistant to treatment by antibiotics.
The full findings are expected to be published in a leading medical
journal in the next few months.
If these dressings were used as standard, as I think they should be,
they would save lives
Tony Field
Prof Strohal said: "I was shocked by the results. I never expected them
to be that effective.
"The dressing does not allow the infection to escape, which means any
nurses and doctors that come into contact with the patient do not then
get the bug and pass it on to other patients.
"This could have a dramatic effect if it was adopted as standard
practice in countries like the UK and US where MRSA is a real problem."
The levels of MRSA infection in Austria are half those in the UK.
Prof Strohal believes that is down to a combination of cleaner
hospitals
and the use of the dressings, which have been used as standard practice
for treating wounds infected with MRSA for the last couple of years.
Treatment
There are no official figures for how widely used silver-backed
dressings are for UK MRSA patients. However, doctors and nurses BBC
News
spoke to said they were far from common.
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency says £10m of silver dressings are
bought each year for the health service - but the overwhelming majority
go on treating burn and skin graft patients or to GPs, often for people
with diabetes.
The hospital infection rapid review panel, set up a year ago by the
Department of Health (DoH) and the Health Protection Agency to make
recommendations to the NHS about infection control, has not considered
the dressing yet.
However, a DoH spokesman said it was certainly something that could be
looked at in the future.
In December, the panel recommended the use of silver hydrogel catheters
to reduce infections.
They are beginning to become routine in hospitals across the country
following the advice.
But Professor Strohal urged the UK government to act straight away on
the dressing.
He said while the dressing was more expensive than standard products -
by about 50% - it would more than pay for itself by slashing the bill
for treating infected people.
"It is obvious if the UK started using them, it would prove
cost-effective, so much is spent each year on the bug.
"We need to investigate this further, but it is possible the dressings
will mean there is no need to isolate patients anymore - that would be
another huge cost saving."
Professor Strohal is now working towards setting up a pan-European
study
in an attempt to get the dressing included in European guidelines.
"At the moment all the recommendations are to do with general
management
of MRSA, hand-washing, isolation, disposal of aprons; there is nothing
to deal with the bug at site, in the wound."
Infected
Health professionals in the UK also believe it is worth considering
using it more.
The superbug has become such a problem in Britain - one in six
intensive
care patients become colonised or infected with MRSA - that it is
threatening to be a key battleground in the forthcoming general
election.
Jean Lawrence, chairman of the Infection Control Nurses Association,
said: "We are aware of the benefits of both the catheters and
dressings.
Some of the nurses who have used them said they were fab.
"It is hard to say how commonplace they are but they do have the
potential to combat the spread of MRSA."
The dressing works by releasing silver into the wound
And Steve Thomas, director of the Materials Testing Laboratory, which
provides testing services for the NHS and manufacturers, said the use
of
silver-impregnated dressings needed to become standard when dealing
with
MRSA.
Mr Thomas, who has done research on the dressings, said: "One problem
is
that there are a few different types on the market, containing various
quantities of silver.
"The good ones, such as Acticoat, are very effective at stopping the
cross infection of MRSA.
"We should be careful not to overuse the dressings as MRSA could become
resistant to the silver.
"However, I would say when a wound is infected with MRSA, the silver
dressings should be used as routine."
Tony Field, chairman of MRSA Support, a group for victims, agreed.
"The work Professor Strohal has done is incredible. We have to be
combating MRSA at site and that means the wound.
"If these dressings were used as standard, as I think they should be,
they would save lives.
"It is all very well isolating patients, improving hygiene, but that is
not really tackling the problem head on.
"This could be the best chance we have."
