Here is some good news for patients suffering from multi-drug resistant infections. A team from the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow claims that cold plasma jets can be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics for treating multi-drug resistant infections. It seems that cold plasmas treat chronic wound infections within ten minutes.
Just a ten-minute treatment with low-temperature plasma supposedly destroys drug-resistant bacteria causing wound infections in rats. Also the rate of wound healing apparently elevates. The efficacy of low-temperature plasma torch was examined on bacterial species such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Such species are generally considered responsible for chronic wound infections and are antibiotic resistant. Plasma was probably lethal for almost 99 percent of bacteria in laboratory-grown biofilms after five minutes. On an average, the plasma was apparently able to kill 90 percent of the bacteria infecting skin wounds in rats after ten minutes.
It is assumed that cold plasmas with temperatures of 35-40°C make the technology an attractive option for treating infections. Dr. Svetlana Ermolaeva, lead researcher and colleagues note that the cold plasmas destroy bacteria by damaging microbial DNA and surface structures without being harmful to human tissues. However, thicker biofilms supposedly have some resistance to treatment. It was concluded that this contact free, painless plasma technology can probably be a better substitute to antibiotics.
The research will be published in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.