Colour-changing bandages may detect drug-resistance

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health. Sensing and treating bacterial infections earlier could help improve patients' recovery, as well as curb the spread of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Sensing bacterial infections and monitoring drug resistance is very important for the selection of treatment options. However, the common methods of sensing resistance are limited by time-consuming, the requirement for professional personnel, and expensive instruments.

Now, researchers have developed colour-changing bandages that can sense drug-resistant and drug-sensitive bacteria in wounds and treat them accordingly. The researchers have been able to construct a portable paper-based band-aid (PBA) which implements a selective antibacterial strategy after sensing of drug resistance. The colours of PBA indicate bacterial infection (yellow) and drug resistance (red), just like a bacterial resistance colourimetric card. The study has been published in the Journal ACS Central Science.