Traditional hypertension medicine effective for preventing superbug infection
Medical experts from Shanghai's Renji Hospital announced that they found a traditional hypertension medicine that can prevent and control bacterial infection after bone joint implantation surgery. The medicine may become a new weapon against superbugs.
The discovery was published by the world-leading journal Bioactive Materials.
According to Dr Yue Bing, director of Renji's joint surgery department, infection around the area of joint implants has become one of the most serious post-surgery complications among the growing elderly population with the promotion of joint transplantation surgery. Superbugs like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus can greatly increase patients' mortality and disability rate.
If the drug-resistant bacteria generate a biological film on the implanted joint, it can result in repeated infection. Patients have to undergo long-term and frequent antibiotic treatment.
"How to effectively prevent and remove bacterial infection on the joint implant is a key factor determining surgery effects and patients' recovery," Yue said.
Through research, Yue's team found that felodipine, a common hypertension medicine, has positive effects. They developed a therapy plan of combing felodipine and gentamicin, which are able to reduce the bacterial quantity on joint implants by 100 times and areas around the implant by 1,000 times. The plan is especially effective for MRSA-induced infection and inflammatory response.
The new treatment plant can have promising effects in clinical practice and reduce patients' pain and economic burden from anti-infection treatment, doctors said.
The published article
Dr Yue Bing (center) during a joint transplantation surgery.
