Lotion Treated With Bacteria Could Help Prevent Skin Infections

Human skin is home to a multitude of microbes, including some that are helpful and some that could potentially be harmful. Now, a small pilot study shows that it might be possible to harness the good bacteria, put them into a lotion and then spread that lotion onto the skin to fight off the bad bacteria. In the study, researchers took bacterial samples from patients’ skin, picked out certain species and cultured them in a lab, and then put these bacteria into a lotion. They found that, for five patients with a skin condition, the bacteria-rich lotion protected them against infections by destroying harmful germs on their skin. The findings show that “bacteria have a very important role to play in our immune defense,” Dr. Richard Gallo, chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the study authors, told Live Science. The study was published Feb. 22 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. [Body Bugs: 5 Surprising Facts About Your Microbiome] In the study, the researchers looked at patients with eczema, a condition which causes itchy, red, inflamed skin. In some people, the condition is chronic, which means that it recurs again and again. Eczema also makes patients more susceptible to staph infections. (”Staph” is short for the bacterial group known as Staphylococcus.) The researchers found that the patients who had persistent eczema tended to be deficient in the friendly bacteria that kill a t...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news