Conversations That Matter: Killing microbes is not easy
From the Vancouver Sun - April 10, 2020
https://vancouversun.com/news/conversations-that-matter-killing-microbes-is-not-easy/
“Drug resistance is one of the top five human health threats. That’s when viruses, bacteria and fungi can no longer be killed by the drugs that we have to deal with them. According to the World Health Organization, drug resistance will kill more people than cancer, diabetes and cholera combined.
When it comes to surgery, self infection of the surgical site is a problem. Your nose is home to many harmful germs, even superbugs, and is a leading source of post-surgical infections.
In the U.S., up to 60 per cent of hospitals remove these nasal germs with topical antibiotic applied to the nose before surgery to reduce the likelihood of surgical site infections. Despite challenges that include low patient compliance, a five-day treatment regime and increasing antibiotic resistance, numerous randomized control trials indicate a 40 to 60 per cent drop in these hospital-acquired infections. For this reason, the World Health Organization recommends this pre-surgical treatment for ortho, spine and cardiac surgeries.
In Canada, only Vancouver Coastal Health requires universal presurgical nasal disinfection for all major surgeries. It uses Ondine Biomedical’s photodisinfection technology, a six-minute painless procedure. The infection reduction has been significant since the technology was introduced nine years ago. It has contributed to an 80 per cent reduction in serious infections.
Ondine and Vancouver Coastal Health are now exploring if this nasal treatment can be used to help prevent COVID-19.
We invited Carolyn Cross of Ondine Biomedical to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the laser treatment her company has been developing to reduce surgical site infection rates.
Conversations That Matter is a partner program for the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.” - Vancouver Sun