Antimicrobial blue light-bathing therapy for wound infection control

Abstract

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance and tolerance in wound infection management poses a serious and growing health threat, necessitating the exploration of alternative approaches. Antimicrobial blue light therapy offers an appealing, non-pharmacological solution. However, its practical application has been hindered by the requirement for high irradiance levels, which particularly raises safety concerns. Here, we introduce a light-bathing strategy that employs prolonged, continuous exposure to blue light at an irradiance range lower by more than an order of magnitude (5 mW/cm2). This method consistently applies bacteriostatic pressure, keeping wound bioburden low, all while minimizing photothermal risks. Leveraging tailor-made, wearable light-emitting patches, we conducted preclinical trials on rat models of wound infection, demonstrating its safety and efficacy for suppressing infections induced by methicillin- resistant S. aureus and multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa. Our results pave a new way for the application of blue light therapy in wound care.