The microbiome of diabetic foot ulcers and the role of biofilms

Abstract

Diabetic Foot Ulcers are a common precursor to the development of infection and amputations. A breach in the protective skin barrier represents a portal of entry for invading microorganisms, where infective episodes frequently pursue. Three key areas that may augment clinical care are one. understanding what microorganisms are present in Diabetic Foot Ulcers, two. differentiating if microorganisms are planktonic microbial cells or slow growing microbial biofilms and three. treating Diabetic Foot Ulcers complicated by microorganisms with effective topical agents. As part of this thesis, 16S rDNA next generation sequencing was utilised to profile the microbiota of infected Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs). Clinical / laboratory data and treatment outcomes were collected and correlated against microbiota data. Thirty-nine patients with infected DFUs were recruited over twelve-months. Shorter duration DFUs (less than six weeks) all had one dominant bacterial species (n= five of five, 100%, p

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English