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Ernlund AW, Moffatt LT, Timm CM, Zudock KK, Howser CW, Blount KM, Alkhalil A, Shupp JW, Karig DK. Examining the effect of wound cleansing on the microbiome of venous stasis ulcers. Wound Repair Regen 2021; 29:766-776. [PMID: 33991156 DOI: 10.1111/wrr.12926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Common treatment for venous leg wounds includes topical wound dressings with compression. At each dressing change, wounds are debrided and washed; however, the effect of the washing procedure on the wound microbiome has not been studied. We hypothesized that wound washing may alter the wound microbiome. To characterize microbiome changes with respect to wound washing, swabs from 11 patients with chronic wounds were sampled before and after washing, and patient microbiomes were characterized using 16S rRNA sequencing and culturing. Microbiomes across patient samples prior to washing were typically polymicrobial but varied in the number and type of bacterial genera present. Proteus and Pseudomonas were the dominant genera in the study. We found that washing does not consistently change microbiome diversity but does cause consistent changes in microbiome composition. Specifically, washing caused a decrease in the relative abundance of the most highly represented genera in each patient cluster. The finding that venous leg ulcer wound washing, a standard of care therapy, can induce changes in the wound microbiome is novel and could be potentially informative for future guided therapy strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda W Ernlund
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | - Lauren T Moffatt
- The Firefighters' Burn and Surgical Research Laboratory, MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA.,Departments of Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Collin M Timm
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | - Kristina K Zudock
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | - Craig W Howser
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | - Kianna M Blount
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
| | - Abdulnaser Alkhalil
- The Firefighters' Burn and Surgical Research Laboratory, MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA
| | - Jeffrey W Shupp
- The Firefighters' Burn and Surgical Research Laboratory, MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA.,Departments of Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - David K Karig
- Department of Research and Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA.,Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, 301 Rhodes Research Center, Clemson, South Carolina, USA
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