There are two major global problems that have brought the subject of this handbook into prominence, both for the worldwide research community and also for public health authorities. The first problem is the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance within pathogenic bacteria, such that infections and injuries that were formerly entirely curable, could be expected to result in death and serious illness on an alarming scale. Drug resistance is also increasing rapidly in pathogenic fungi, viruses and parasites. The second problem is the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in millions of deaths, and brought awareness of the spread of infections, hygiene and the need for sterilization to everybody at some level. Since the rate of discovery of new antibiotics and effective drugs for infectious disease has been overall disappointing, researchers have looked towards non-antibiotic treatments some relying on physical energy approaches. The most versatile and promising exampleof these approaches is the subject of the present Handbook called Antimicrobial Photoinactivation. Antimicrobial photoinactivation involves the use of various kinds of light to kill different microorganisms, sterilize foods or other materials and to treat a wide range of infections either in animals or in humans. Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation involves the combination of visible or near-infrared light with a specific chemical or dye called a photosensitizer which is administered from outside in order to generate reactive oxygen species and destroy the microbes. This area comprises the largest part of the Handbook as research efforts have really taken off over the last few years. There has also been an impressive increase in the number of papers concerned with nanotechnology, nanomedicine and theranostics for killing and/or imaging various pathogenic microorganisms, and some examples of these have been included. Photothermal approaches involvethe use of targeted photosensitizers that can produce localized heat instead of reactive oxygen species when light is absorbed, and some of these nanotechnology-based techniques have been included. Antimicrobial blue light relies on the absorption of shorter wavelength light by endogenous chromophores present inside the microorganisms, and is an attractive approach that does not require the addition of any external photosensitizers. A final section covers the use of germicidal UVC and femtosecond pulsed lasers to kill microbes.  A section on clinical trials and clinical approvals of aPDT or aBL for treating various infections is included. The astonishing growth in laboratory research in antimicrobial photoinactivation that has occurred in recent years is expected to result in additional clinical and environmental applications in the years to come.  The audience for the Handbook will be mainly researchers, but clinicians and public health authorities are also expected to be interested.

Handbook of Antimicrobial Photoinactivation

动态工具书
发表日期：

2025年

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摘要

There are two major global problems that have brought the subject of this handbook into prominence, both for the worldwide research community and also for public health authorities. The first problem is the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance within pathogenic bacteria, such that infections and injuries that were formerly entirely curable, could be expected to result in death and serious illness on an alarming scale. Drug resistance is also increasing rapidly in pathogenic fungi, viruses and parasites. The second problem is the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in millions of deaths, and brought awareness of the spread of infections, hygiene and the need for sterilization to everybody at some level. Since the rate of discovery of new antibiotics and effective drugs for infectious disease has been overall disappointing, researchers have looked towards non-antibiotic treatments some relying on physical energy approaches. The most versatile and promising exampleof these approaches is the subject of the present Handbook called Antimicrobial Photoinactivation.

Antimicrobial photoinactivation involves the use of various kinds of light to kill different microorganisms, sterilize foods or other materials and to treat a wide range of infections either in animals or in humans. Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation involves the combination of visible or near-infrared light with a specific chemical or dye called a photosensitizer which is administered from outside in order to generate reactive oxygen species and destroy the microbes. This area comprises the largest part of the Handbook as research efforts have really taken off over the last few years. There has also been an impressive increase in the number of papers concerned with nanotechnology, nanomedicine and theranostics for killing and/or imaging various pathogenic microorganisms, and some examples of these have been included.

Photothermal approaches involvethe use of targeted photosensitizers that can produce localized heat instead of reactive oxygen species when light is absorbed, and some of these nanotechnology-based techniques have been included. Antimicrobial blue light relies on the absorption of shorter wavelength light by endogenous chromophores present inside the microorganisms, and is an attractive approach that does not require the addition of any external photosensitizers. A final section covers the use of germicidal UVC and femtosecond pulsed lasers to kill microbes.

A section on clinical trials and clinical approvals of aPDT or aBL for treating various infections is included. The astonishing growth in laboratory research in antimicrobial photoinactivation that has occurred in recent years is expected to result in additional clinical and environmental applications in the years to come.

The audience for the Handbook will be mainly researchers, but clinicians and public health authorities are also expected to be interested.