Globally there is a large population of people suffering with diabetes. A large percentage of these patients develop foot ulcers at some point
that heal very slowly and can worsen very rapidly. The use of silver nanoparticles in silver release dressings and in management of infected
wounds is important, as several pathogenic bacteria have developed resistance against various antibiotics. Such dressings vary in
technological nature of their silver content and release. Use of silver dressings in recent times has a considerable challenge of lacking cost
effectiveness. In-vitro susceptibility of microorganisms causing foot ulcers to a silver nanocomposite of Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and
Melamine formaldehyde (MFR) resin both as films and coatings is being reported. AgNP solution was prepared by colloidal route and
characterised. MFR was prepared and reacted with PVA and AgNP solution to obtain PVA-MFR composite and PVA-MFR-Ag composite.
The antimicrobial composites were casted into films, also soaked into polyvinyl foam, and coated on Whatman paper. Antimicrobial
efficacy of such prepared dressing materials was tested. They are stable and do not lose their antimicrobial activity with time. Tissues from
the wounds of five diabetic patients with deep foot infections were collected to isolate and identify the microorganism responsible for
causing foot ulcers in the diabetic patients. Their sensitivity towards various antibiotics was studied. Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus
vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae species isolated from wound samples, though were found resistant to many
antibiotics are sensitive to PVA-MFR-Ag films. These silver composites can be cost effective for the reason that efficacy of nanosilver is
superimposed on antimicrobial activity of cheaper PVA-MFR composite. Thus, AgNP immobilised on antimicrobial PVA-MFR, could
probably be a promising wound dressing in diabetic foot disease management.
Key words: wound dressings, nanosilver, antimicrobial, diabetic ulcers, polyvinyl alcohol-melamine formaldehyde resin.
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