Cooper RA, Bjarnsholt T, Alhede M, et al.
Journal of wound care. Date of publication 2014 Nov 1;volume 23(11):570, 572-4, 576-80 passim.
1. J Wound Care. 2014 Nov;23(11):570, 572-4, 576-80 passim. doi:
10.12968/jowc.2014.23.11.570.
Biofilms in wounds: a review of present knowledge.
Cooper RA(1), Bjarnsholt T, Alhede M.
Author information:
(1)Professor of Microbiology, Cardiff School of Health Sciences, Cardiff
Metropolitan University, Western Avenue, Cardiff, CF5 2YB, S. Wales, UK.
Following confirmation of the presence of biofilms in chronic wounds, the term
biofilm became a buzzword within the wound healing community. For more than a
century pathogens have been successfully isolated and identified from wound
specimens using techniques that were devised in the nineteenth century by Louis
Pasteur and Robert Koch. Although this approach still provides valuable
information with which to help diagnose acute infections and to select
appropriate antibiotic therapies, it is evident that those organisms isolated
from clinical specimens with the conditions normally used in diagnostic
laboratories are mainly in a planktonic form that is unrepresentative of the way
in which most microbial species exist naturally. Usually microbial species adhere
to each other, as well as to living and non-living surfaces, where they form
complex communities surrounded by collectively secreted extracellular polymeric
substances (EPS). Cells within such aggregations (or biofilms) display varying
physiological and metabolic properties that are distinct from those of planktonic
cells, and which contribute to their persistence. There are many factors that
influence healing in wounds and the discovery of biofilms in chronic wounds has
provided new insight into the reasons why. Increased tolerance of biofilms to
antimicrobial agents explains the limited efficacy of antimicrobial agents in
chronic wounds and illustrates the need to develop new management strategies.
This review aims to explain the nature of biofilms, with a view to explaining
their impact on wounds.
DOI: 10.12968/jowc.2014.23.11.570
PMID: 25375405 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
