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      A Light-Activated Antimicrobial Surface Is Active Against Bacterial, Viral and Fungal Organisms

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          Abstract

          Evidence has shown that environmental surfaces play an important role in the transmission of nosocomial pathogens. Deploying antimicrobial surfaces in hospital wards could reduce the role environmental surfaces play as reservoirs for pathogens. Herein we show a significant reduction in viable counts of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and MS2 Bacteriophage after light treatment of a medical grade silicone incorporating crystal violet, methylene blue and 2 nm gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, a migration assay demonstrated that in the presence of light, growth of the fungus-like organism Pythium ultimum and the filamentous fungus Botrytis cinerea was inhibited. Atomic Force Microscopy showed significant alterations to the surface of S. epidermidis, and electron microscopy showed cellular aggregates connected by discrete surface linkages. We have therefore demonstrated that the embedded surface has a broad antimicrobial activity under white light and that the surface treatment causes bacterial envelope damage and cell aggregation.

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          The structure and synthesis of the fungal cell wall.

          Shaun M Bowman, Stephen Free (2006)
          The fungal cell wall is a dynamic structure that protects the cell from changes in osmotic pressure and other environmental stresses, while allowing the fungal cell to interact with its environment. The structure and biosynthesis of a fungal cell wall is unique to the fungi, and is therefore an excellent target for the development of anti-fungal drugs. The structure of the fungal cell wall and the drugs that target its biosynthesis are reviewed. Based on studies in a number of fungi, the cell wall has been shown to be primarily composed of chitin, glucans, mannans and glycoproteins. The biosynthesis of the various components of the fungal cell wall and the importance of the components in the formation of a functional cell wall, as revealed through mutational analyses, are discussed. There is strong evidence that the chitin, glucans and glycoproteins are covalently cross-linked together and that the cross-linking is a dynamic process that occurs extracellularly. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
          Article 0 comments Cited 305 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Role of hospital surfaces in the transmission of emerging health care-associated pathogens: norovirus, Clostridium difficile, and Acinetobacter species.

            David Weber, William Rutala, Melissa B. Miller … (2010)
            Health care-associated infections (HAI) remain a major cause of patient morbidity and mortality. Although the main source of nosocomial pathogens is likely the patient's endogenous flora, an estimated 20% to 40% of HAI have been attributed to cross infection via the hands of health care personnel, who have become contaminated from direct contact with the patient or indirectly by touching contaminated environmental surfaces. Multiple studies strongly suggest that environmental contamination plays an important role in the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. More recently, evidence suggests that environmental contamination also plays a role in the nosocomial transmission of norovirus, Clostridium difficile, and Acinetobacter spp. All 3 pathogens survive for prolonged periods of time in the environment, and infections have been associated with frequent surface contamination in hospital rooms and health care worker hands. In some cases, the extent of patient-to-patient transmission has been found to be directly proportional to the level of environmental contamination. Improved cleaning/disinfection of environmental surfaces and hand hygiene have been shown to reduce the spread of all of these pathogens. Importantly, norovirus and C difficile are relatively resistant to the most common surface disinfectants and waterless alcohol-based antiseptics. Current hand hygiene guidelines and recommendations for surface cleaning/disinfection should be followed in managing outbreaks because of these emerging pathogens. (c) 2010 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
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              The role played by contaminated surfaces in the transmission of nosocomial pathogens.

              Jonathan A. Otter, Saber Yezli, Gary French (2011)
              Studies in the 1970s and 1980s suggested that environmental surface contamination played a negligible role in the endemic transmission of healthcare-associated infections. However, recent studies have demonstrated that several major nosocomial pathogens are shed by patients and contaminate hospital surfaces at concentrations sufficient for transmission, survive for extended periods, persist despite attempts to disinfect or remove them, and can be transferred to the hands of healthcare workers. Evidence is accumulating that contaminated surfaces make an important contribution to the epidemic and endemic transmission of Clostridium difficile, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and norovirus and that improved environmental decontamination contributes to the control of outbreaks. Efforts to improve environmental hygiene should include enhancing the efficacy of cleaning and disinfection and reducing the shedding of pathogens. Further high-quality studies are needed to clarify the role played by surfaces in nosocomial transmission and to determine the effectiveness of different interventions in reducing associated infection rates.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Lena Ciric: l.ciric@ucl.ac.uk
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Rep
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Rep
                Title: Scientific Reports
                Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK (London )
                ISSN (Electronic): 2045-2322
                Publication date (Electronic): 10 November 2017
                Publication date PMC-release: 10 November 2017
                Publication date Collection: 2017
                Volume: 7
                Electronic Location Identifier: 15298
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ISNI 0000000121901201, GRID grid.83440.3b, Healthy Infrastructure Research Group, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, University College London, ; London, UK
                [2 ]ISNI 0000000121901201, GRID grid.83440.3b, Materials Chemistry Centre, Department of Chemistry, University College London, ; London, UK
                [3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2324 0507, GRID grid.88379.3d, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck College, ; London, UK
                Article
                Publisher ID: 15565
                DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15565-5
                PMC ID: 5681661
                PubMed ID: 29127333
                SO-VID: b1dd223b-4ea0-4a0d-bc49-b3fc2789d59a
                Copyright © © The Author(s) 2017
                License:

                Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                Date received : 11 May 2016
                Date accepted : 26 October 2017
                Categories
                Subject: Article
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                issue-copyright-statement © The Author(s) 2017

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
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