Assessment of a silver-coated barrier dressing for potential use with skin grafts on excised burns

Acticoat® burn dressing is a silver-coated dressing with antimicrobial activity purported to reduce infection from environmental organisms in partial and full-thickness wounds. Acticoat® was tested for activity as an antimicrobial treatment and as an antimicrobial barrier dressing in three in vitro assays. It was found that a modified disc assay method gave false negative results but in an assay in which bacteria were inoculated on top of samples of Acticoat®, bacterial numbers were reduced, over time, with all microorganisms tested. Acticoat® served as a barrier for bacteria, inoculated onto it, from contaminating the surface of an agar plate under the Acticoat®. The data show that Acticoat® has: antimicrobial capabilities, but to be effective hours of contact between Acticoat® and the microorganisms are required; and the capacity to serve as an antimicrobial barrier dressing. These findings support the conclusion that Acticoat® has activity to reduce microbial contamination of wounds from environmental sources.