Efficacy of locally delivered polyclonal immunoglobulin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in a murine burn wound model

The leading cause of morbidity and mortality in severe burn wound patients is infection. Treatment of burn wound infection is complicated by the emerg ence of antibiotic resistant organisms. A potential therapeutic alternative to antibiotic drugs is the local administration of polyclonal antibodies, termed passive local immunotherapy (PLI), directly to the burned tissue. A mouse burn wound infection model to simulate full thickness burn wound infe ction was used to evaluate the efficacy of passive local immunotherapy as a viable prophylactic or therapeutic agent. Pooled human immunoglobulins (Ig G), delivered locally to the site of infection, are shown to be mon effecti ve at preventing fatal burn wound sepsis than treatment by intravenous infu sion of IgG. A single 10 mg dose of human IgG administered locally to the b urned, infected tissue site, either 24 hours prior to bacterial challenge, or within 3 hours after bacterial challenge, enhanced animal survival signi ficantly (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05 respectively) compared to control animals. In addition, reduced levels of bacteria were found in local and systemic t issues of IgG-treated mice compared to control mice (P < 0.05). These data support the local use of polyclonal immunoglobulin preparations as an effic acious and cost effective means to prevent and treat burn wound infections. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.