(Before It's News)

By Dr. Mercola

Skin and soft tissue infections are among the most common bacterial infections encountered in clinical practice.

Such infections can be caused by a number of bacteria that gain entrance into your body via cuts, scrapes, bites or open wounds. Even bacteria that normally live on your skin can cause an infection when introduced into your body this way.

Skin and soft tissue infections account for more than 14 million hospital visits each year, costing the health care system an estimated $24 billion.

Unfortunately, many infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Antibiotic overuse has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA.

Finding effective countermeasures to this growing public health threat has turned out few options, but the remedy may be as simple as colored light.

According to a new proof-of-principle study,¹ blue light can selectively eliminate infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. According to lead researcher Michael R. Hamblin of the Massachusetts General Hospital:²

"Microbes replicate very rapidly, and a mutation that helps a microbe survive in the presence of an antibiotic drug will quickly predominate throughout the microbial population. Recently, a dangerous new enzyme, NDM-1, that makes some bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics available has been found in the United States. Many physicians are concerned that several infections soon may be untreatable.

Blue light is a potential non-toxic, non-antibiotic approach for treating skin and soft tissue infections, especially those caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens."

Could Blue Light Replace Antibiotics?

In the study, lab animals were infected with P. aeruginosa. Incredibly, ALL of the animals treated with blue light survived, while 82 percent of the controls died. Could this possibly be the beginning of a whole new treatment paradigm for infections? Clearly, we’re nearing the end of the road of the antibiotic era, as antibiotic-resistance spreads.

Blue light therapy has also been shown to be effective against MRSA and other resistant bugs, offering new hope for effective treatments.

In a previous study published in 2009,³ over 90 percent of community acquired and hospital acquired strains of MRSA were successfully eradicated within mere minutes of exposure to blue light. According to the authors:

“These significant levels of photo-destruction at low dosages indicate that irradiation with 470nm LED light energy may be a practical, inexpensive alternative to treatment with pharmacological agents, particularly in cases involving cutaneous and subcutanious MRSA infections that are susceptible to non-invasive types of radiation.”

Here, the word “radiation” does NOT refer to ionizing radiation but rather the emission of energy from an LED light source – here within the blue light spectrum, which has a range of 450-495 nanometers (nm). (The study in question used 470nm blue light).

Natural sunlight will expose you to the full light spectrum from 415-660nm light, which encompasses the entire spectrum of colors: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

UV Light Not Necessary to Kill Pathogens

A similar study from 2008⁴ had found 405nm blue light to be an effective treatment for MRSA. However, according to the researchers, the 390-420 nm spectral width could raise safety concerns in clinical practice as it also contains part of the ultraviolet (UV) light within the spectrum. Fortunately, the 2009 follow-up study demonstrated that UV is not necessary to successfully kill the pathogens.   MORE

http://beforeitsnews.com/health/2013/03/eliminate-infections-no-ant...