Novel Antimicrobial Strategies to Combat Biomaterial Infections

AbstractBacteria are present in nature everywhere and the combat with them has the major priority especially in various industrial settings (i.e. food industry) or medical devices. It was established earlier that most of bacteria found in nature exist in the form of biofilms (attached to surface of different objects and not as free floating organisms).There are several possible strategies to reduce or prevent bacterial infections among different populations: patients and medical staff. One of the alternative strategies independent of human labor, is to produce antibacterial coatings to reduce or eliminate bacteria colonization on surfaces by leaching of biocides, antibacterial surfaces with deposited metals such as copper, silver or gold, formation of superhydrophobic surfaces and surfaces encapsulated by photoactive nanoparticles.A new light triggered strategies to combat bacterial infections and possible usage of photoactive polymers for these purposes. Photoactive antibacterial polymers are highly promising solution for novel medical devices. To enable their wise usage for the treatment of urinary infections some changes must be made. For example, the effectiveness of photoactive polymers inside human body can be increased by incorporation of micron sized electronic devices (light emitting diode, light detector, pH sensor, radio frequent device) into polymer matrices.