New Light Treatment Being Tested To Fight MRSA
That's right, a flip of a switch could be the answer to battling these bacteria. Dermatologist Rox Anderson at the Wellman Center at Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the researchers investigating. "In a nutshell, it's harnessing the energy of light transforming it into chemical reactions that are toxic to bacteria but not to you," Anderson said. In animal studies, the MRSA bacteria was applied to a superficial wound, then a common dye was applied, followed by a light source. "We use deeply penetrating light because we want it to go as deep as we can and that tends to be red light," Anderson said. In about 15 minutes the treatment is over and the bacteria are dead. Rapid treatment is a benefit of light therapy because even if antibiotics worked, they would take at least a day or two to kick in. The future of using light therapy to treat infections is looking bright. "To be able to make the diagnosis of infection rapidly doing microscopy right on the patient, then be able to treat them at the time using light and I think we're getting close to that," Anderson said.
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