Photo Credit: Dr Microbe
The following is a summary of “Bactogram: Spatial Analysis of Bacterial Colonisation in Epidermal Wounds,” published in the December 2024 issue of Dermatology by Wallblom et al.
Skin barrier damage contributes to harmful microbiota development, playing a key role in conditions like wound infections, atopic dermatitis, and chronic wounds, which impact millions and strain healthcare systems.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to describe a new method, the ‘Bactogram,’ which visualizes the distribution of cultivable bacteria across wounds and surrounding skin for image-based quantification.
They applied the Bactogram method in an exploratory clinical trial in 24 healthy volunteers with 48 suction blister wounds. This method mapped cultivable bacteria distribution across the wound and surrounding skin, 2 quantification techniques, visual scoring, and image analysis, assessed bacterial re-colonization during epidermal healing.
The results showed bacteria were present in all wounds, mainly under the dressing and near the wound edges. Both quantification methods, visual scoring, and image analysis, exhibited high inter- and intra-rater agreement. The Bactogram method successfully identified pathogenic species, like Staphylococcus aureus, using chromogenic agar.
Investigators concluded that a novel method introduced for sampling bacteria over large areas enabled the creation of bacterial maps to identify spatial variations in bacterial composition and abundance in skin and wound conditions.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/exd.70018
