I recently saw "under our skin" again, and I was more aware of Dr. MacDonalds comments at the end this time. I think what he says could show up to be very important to designing effective treatment.
Perhaps this is part of why the infection is so persistant.
I know some people are now using tigecylcline, which is quite new to the marked, and here's a study I found from 2007 which showed a synergy effect from combining tigecycline - which attacks the biofilm and NAC which does the same in a different way.
Summary: Combination of Tigecycline and N-Acetylcysteine Reduces Biofilm-Embedded Bacteria on Vascular Catheters
To assess the efficacy of an antibiofilm/antimicrobial agent combination, we incubated catheter segments colonized with one of six studied bacterial organisms in N-acetylcysteine, tigecycline, N-acetylcysteine-tigecycline, or saline. Segments were washed, sonicated, and cultured. N-acetylcysteine-tigecycline significantly decreased all viable biofilm-associated bacteria and was synergistic for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) decreases biofilm formation by a variety of bacteria (9, 15, 20) and reduces the production of extracellular polysaccharide matrix (14) while promoting the disruption of mature biofilm (9, 20). NAC is widely used in medical practice via inhalation and oral and intravenous routes (11, 13, 27), and it has an excellent safety profile (6). Tigecycline is active against a range of multiresistant organisms and is bactericidal against biofilm-associated Staphylococcus epidermidis at a lower minimal bactericidal concentration than that of vancomycin and daptomycin (8).
We hypothesized that the combination of NAC and tigecycline is synergistic in the treatment of catheter-associated biofilm as they both act on different components of the biofilm.
interesting! So NAC is a biofilm fighter on its own?
Posted by chamade (Member # 11472) on :
Yup, the more I do research on NAC, the more I am convinced it is a must - especially for people with peripheral neuropathy and other neurolyme manifestations.
Posted by peter j (Member # 11825) on :
In 2002, The University of Pretoria in South Africa cited that Biofilm bacteria is 150 to 3,000 fold stronger than regular bacteria. In other words, it is resistant to disinfectants and antibiotics, making it difficult to remove and control.
