Ep. 290: Killing microbes is difficult
Guest: Carolyn Cross, Ondine Biomedical
Antimicrobial resistance or 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 (and even superbugs) and is a leading source of healthcare associated infections. In the U.S., up to 60% of hospitals remove these nasal germs with topical antibiotic presurgical nasal decolonization for major surgeries 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% 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 decolonization for all its major surgeries involving Ondine's Photodisinfection technology, a six-minute painless procedure. The infection reduction results have been significant over the past 9 years, since this health authority has implemented this first-of-a-kind technology. The addition of eliminating nasal pathogens with Ondine's Photodisinfection just minutes before major surgeries has contributed to the 80% reduction in serious infections. To date, more than 1,000 patients have been spared from these post surgical infections, saving millions of dollars annually. Ondine and Vancouver Coastal Health are now exploring if this same nasal decolonization treatment can be used to help prevent or treat 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.
