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Chukuka Enwemeka, Ph.D., dean of NYIT's School of Health Professions, Behavioral, and Life Sciences.
Chukuka S. Enwemeka, Ph.D., dean of the School of Health Professions, Behavioral, and Life Sciences, along with NYIT researchers, has just published findings on a new treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The research showed that exposing MRSA to safe levels of blue light effectively eradicates two common strains of the infection.
MRSA is considered a “superbug” because of its resistance to antibiotic treatments. An important and increasingly public health threat, it is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and 19,000 deaths annually around the world, according to an American Medical Association report. At present, fewer than 5 percent of MRSA strains are susceptible to penicillin, while approximately 40 to 50 percent of these types of staph infections have developed resistance to newer, semisynthetic antibiotics, such as methicillin.
The NYIT research team—which included Deborah Williams, Sombiri K. Enwemeka, Steve Hollosi, and David Yens—tested one strain representative of MRSA found most often in hospitals and another representative of the strains found in the community at large. Approximately 100 seconds’ worth of exposure to blue light using a process called photo-irradiation killed about 30 percent of MRSA in the laboratory cultures. Longer doses were more effective, although it took about 10 times more exposure to kill off 80 percent of the MRSA in culture dishes. The effectiveness of blue light in vitro suggests that it should also be effective in human cases of MRSA infection.
“It is inspiring that an inexpensive, naturally visible wavelength of light can eradicate two common strains of MRSA,” says Enwemeka. “Developing strategies that are capable of destroying MRSA, using mechanisms that would not lead to further antibiotic resistance, is timely and important for us and our patients.” The study follows prior research conducted by Enwemeka’s team, which found that MRSA died when exposed to blue light that included part of the ultra-violet (UV) spectrum. Health professionals prefer not to expose patients to potentially harmful UV rays, underscoring the significance of the new research.
Enwemeka’s study was published in the April 2009 issue of Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, and the research was funded by Dynatronics Corp., which manufactures the blue light device used in the study.