Comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of ACTICOAT* Antimicrobial Barrier Dressing

This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of ACTICOAT Antimicrobial B arrier Dressing (Westaim Biomedical Corp, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canad a), a silver-coated wound dressing, and compared it with silver nitrate, si lver sulfadiazine, and mafenide acetate. The minimum inhibitory concentrati ons (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC), zone of inhibition, a nd killing curves were determined with 5 clinically relevant bacteria. The data indicate that ACTICOAT silver had the lowest MIC and MBC and generated similar zones of inhibition to silver nitrate and silver sulfadiazine. Via ble bacteria were undetectable 30 minutes after inoculation with the dressi ng, whereas it took 2 to 4 hours for silver nitrate and silver sulfadazine to achieve the same result. Mafenide acetate generated the biggest zones of inhibition, but it had the highest MICs and MBCs, and a significant number of bacteria still survived after 6 hours of treatment. The results suggest that ACTICOAT Antimicrobial Barrier Dressing has better antimicrobial perf ormance than either of the existing silver-based products. ACTICOAT dressin g killed the bacteria that were tested much faster, which is a very importa nt characteristic for a wound dressing acting as a barrier to invasive infe ction to have. The study also suggests that a single susceptibility test su ch as a MIC or zone of inhibition test does not provide a comprehensive pro file of antimicrobial activity of a topical antimicrobial agent or dressing . A combination of tests is desirable.