Loughborough University
Browse
2_Heaselgrave_PLASMA_corrections_edit_FINAL_WH_100316.pdf (103.05 kB)

Inactivation of Acanthamoeba spp. and other ocular pathogens by application of cold atmospheric gas plasma

Download (103.05 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2016-06-24, 10:45 authored by Wayne Heaselgrave, Gilbert Shama, Peter W. Andrew, Michael G. Kong
Currently there are estimated to be approximately 3.7 million contact lens wearers in the United Kingdom and 39.2 million in North America. Contact lens wear is a major risk factor for developing an infection of the cornea known as keratitis due to poor lens hygiene practices. While there is an international standard for testing disinfection methods against bacteria and fungi (ISO 14729), no such guidelines exist for the protozoan Acanthamoeba, which causes a potentially blinding keratitis most commonly seen in contact lens wearers, and as a result, many commercially available disinfecting solutions show incomplete disinfection after 6 and 24 h of exposure. Challenge test assays based on international standard ISO 14729 were used to determine the antimicrobial activity of cold atmospheric gas plasma (CAP) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba polyphaga and Acanthamoeba castellanii. P. aeruginosa and C. albicans were completely inactivated in 0.5 min and 2 min, respectively, and trophozoites of A. polyphaga and A. castellanii were completely inactivated in 1 min and 2 min, respectively. Furthermore, for the highly resistant cyst stage of both species, complete inactivation was achieved after 4 min of exposure to CAP. This study demonstrates that the CAP technology is highly effective against bacterial, fungal, and protozoan pathogens. The further development of this technology has enormous potential, as this approach is able to deliver the complete inactivation of ocular pathogens in minutes, in contrast to commercial multipurpose disinfecting solutions that require a minimum of 6 h.

History

School

  • Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering

Department

  • Chemical Engineering

Published in

APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY

Volume

82

Issue

10

Pages

3143 - 3148 (6)

Citation

HEASLEGRAVE, W. ... et al., 2016. Inactivation of Acanthamoeba spp. and other ocular pathogens by application of cold atmospheric gas plasma. Applied and environmental microbiology, 82 (10), pp.3143-3148.

Publisher

© American Society for Microbiology

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2016

ISSN

0099-2240

eISSN

1098-5336

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC