Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii strains are important agents causing serious nosocomial infections including soft-tissue and skin infections in patients with burn wounds which have become resistant to several classes of antibiotics. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) as an alternative antimicrobial procedure is suggested for the treatment of these kinds of infections. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the antibacterial and anti-biofilm efficiency of aPDT by the utilization of an improved form of indocyanine green (ICG) which is encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles (NCs@ICG). Methods: NCs@ICG were synthesized and confirmed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). aPDT was performed using NCs@ICG with an 810 nm wavelength of the diode laser at the fluency of 31.2 J/cm² on 50 A. baumannii strains isolated from burn wounds. The antibacterial and antibiofilm potential of NCs@ICG-aPDT was determined via the colony forming unit (CFU)/mL and crystal violet assays, respectively. In addition, microbial biofilm degradation was evaluated by the SEM. Results: According to the results, NCs@ICG-aPDT showed a significant reduction of 93.2% on the CFU/ mL of planktonic A. baumannii strains compared to the control group (untreated group; P < 0.05). In addition, the biofilm formation of A. baumannii strains was significantly reduced by 55.3% when the bacteria were exposed to NCs@ICG-aPDT (P < 0.05). In contrast, NCs@ICG, ICG, and the diode laser alone were not able to inhibit the CFU/mL and biofilm of A. baumannii strains (P > 0.05). Based on the results of SEM images, NCs@ICG-aPDT disrupted the biofilm structure of A. baumannii strains more than other groups. Conclusion: NCs@ICG-aPDT demonstrates a promising treatment candidate for exploitation in wound infections against both planktonic and biofilm forms of A. baumannii strains

Background and Aims: The emergence of drug-resistant infections is a global problem. Acinetobacter baumannii has attracted much attention over the last few years because of resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. Applying new non-antibiotic methods can save lives of many people around the world. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) technique can be used as a new method for controlling the infections. In this study we investigated the effect of aPDT on the expression of pathogenic genes in colistin-resistance A. baumannii isolated from a burn patient. Materials and methods: The suspension of colistin-resistance A. baumannii was incubated with 0.01mg/ml of toluidine blue O (TBO) in the dark; then the light emitting diode device with a wavelength of 630 ± 10 nm and output intensity of 2000-4000 mW /cm² was irradiated to the suspension at room temperature. Subsequently, after the aPDT, genes expression of ompA and pilZ was investigated by using real-time polymerase chain reaction technique. Results: Among the genes studied, the transcript of the ompA gene after aPDT was increased significantly in comparison with control groups (P ‹ 0.05). Whereas, there was no remarkable different in pilZ gene expression (P › 0.05). Conclusions: It can be concluded from the results that the ompA as an outer membrane of A. baumannii is degraded after exposing aPDT and it will probably be done the penetration of antibiotics into cells of this bacterium easily.

The current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV and COVID-19) viral infection is growing globally and has created a disastrous situation all over the world. One of the biggest challenges is that no drugs are available to treat this life-threatening disease. As no drugs are available for definitive treatment of this disease and the mortality rate is very high, there is an utmost need to cure the infection using novel technologies. This study will point out some new antimicrobial technologies that have great potentials for eradicating and preventing emerging infections. They can be considered as treatments of choice for viral infections in the future.