Infection Control Today Magazine

Biofilms

Microbial biofilms develop when microorganisms adhere to a surface such as a surgical instrument, an indwelling catheter or other medical device and produce extracellular polymers that facilitate adhesion and provide a structural matrix. Biofilms on indwelling medical devices may be composed of Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria or yeasts. Biofilms are frequently implicated in device-related infections.

Mighty Mesh: Extracellular Matrix Identified as Source of Spreading in Biofilms

New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments and crops. Through experiment and mathematical analysis, researchers have shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM), a mesh of proteins and sugars that ...More
3 weeks ago
Posted in News
Defend Against the 'Ninjas' of Infectious Disease

Recently, ECRI Institute’s James Davis, BSN, RN, CCRN, CIC, presented a patient safety organization (PSO) webinar on biofilms. Davis explained how biofilms are the "ninjas" of infectious disease; they are extremely difficult to detect, and with current technology, they are ...More
3 weeks ago
Posted in News
Manipulating the Way Bacteria Communicate Could Have Practical Applications

By manipulating the way bacteria "talk" to each other, researchers at Texas A&M University have achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the formation and dispersal of biofilms – a finding with potentially significant health and industrial applications, ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News
What Bacteria Don't Know Can Hurt Them

Bacterial clusters living in the lungs of a cystic fibrosis patient are highly resistant to killing by antibiotics. Many infections, even those caused by antibiotic-sensitive bacteria, resist treatment. This paradox has vexed physicians for decades, and makes some ...More
November 18, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Geoscientists Find Key to Why Some Patients Get Infections from Cardiac Implants

New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices. Geoscientists were the major contributors to the ...More
October 25, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Pediatric Device Inventors Awarded Funds to Design Child-Specific Medical Devices

Adapting adult medical devices to be used for children is a common but often problematic practice across U.S. hospitals. At the University of Michigan and U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, pediatricians and researchers who care for children have been leading the charge to ...More
September 28, 2011
Posted in News
New Studies on Bacterial Biofilm May Open Door to Treating Sinusitis

A biofilm is a thin layer of microorganisms, such as bacteria, that can form on a wide variety of materials, including human tissue. When a biofilm forms on an infection, treatment becomes very complicated, since the bacteria inside it exists in a state that renders it ...More
September 12, 2011
Posted in News
Biologist Discovers One Pathogen Species Can Produce Two Distinct Biofilms

Many medical devices, ranging from artificial hip joints to dentures and catheters, become sites for unwelcome guests -- complex communities of microbial pathogens called biofilms that are resistant to the human immune system and antibiotics, thus proving a serious threat ...More
August 3, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Researchers Study How Bacteria Move

Jacinta Conrad, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Houston, likens her research into how bacteria move to "tracking bright spots on a dark background." Using a digital camera affixed to a microscope, Conrad and her ...More
July 25, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Biologist Discovers Key Regulators for Biofilm Development

They can be found everywhere—organized communities of bacteria sticking to surfaces both inside and outside the body. These biofilms are responsible for some of the most virulent, antibiotic-resistant infections in humans; however, scientific understanding of how these ...More
June 24, 2011
Posted in News