Edmar Maciel, a plastic surgeon and burn specialist leading the clinical trials with tilapia skin.Īs a result, public health patients in Brazil are normally bandaged with gauze and silver sulfadiazine cream. The three functional skin banks in Brazil can meet only 1 percent of the national demand, said Dr. But Brazil lacks the human skin, pig skin, and artificial alternatives that are widely available in the US. Animal skin has long been used in the treatment of burns in developed countries. They are covered in fish skin - specifically strips of sterilized tilapia.ĭoctors here are testing the skin of the popular fish as a bandage for second- and third-degree burns. Edmar Maciel, who is leading the clinical trial in Fortazela, Brazil, “the tilapia treatment also cuts down healing time by up to several days and reduces the use of pain medication.FORTAZELA, Brazil - In this historic city by the sea in northeast Brazil, burn patients look as if they’ve emerged from the waves. Deep second-degree burns require the fish skin to be changed during the course of treatment but much less frequently than the standard bandage and cream approach. For superficial second-degree burns, the fish skin is placed over the burned skin and left until the patient’s skin scars. They are then packaged and refrigerated for use. Tilapia skin bandages are first treated with sterilizing agents, then irradiated to kill viruses. Additionally, tilapia skin demonstrated a greater tension of resistance and had more moisture than human skin. Researchers and doctors in Brazil first analyzed the fish skin and found that it contained high levels of collagen types 1 and 3, proteins important for scarring. These, however, need to be removed daily to retreat the area, a very painful process for the patient. In Brazil, with the lack of biobanks able to provide human or pig skin, burns are washed, treated and covered in gauze bandages. These severe burns are generally black and result in loss of the burned part of the body.Ī leading cause of death for burn victims is infection thus, washing, treating and covering the wound is critical. A fourth-degree burn additionally involves injury to deeper tissues including bones and muscles. In a third-degree burn, the injury extends to all layers of the skin, resulting in stiffness in the area, but not much pain. These are very painful, include blisters and may result in scarring. When the burn extends into the underlying skin layer, it’s classified as a second-degree burn. These red burns, sunburns for example, are usually painful, lasting a few days. Nearly half a million people in the United States require treatment for severe burns every year.īurns of the superficial skin layers are classified as first-degree burns. According to a recent review article in Critical Care, specialized facilities focus on stabilizing the patient, preventing infection and optimizing functional recovery. The World Health Organization estimates approximately 265,000 deaths per year due to severe burns, mostly in low and middle income countries. In Brazil, doctors are testing use of the skin of tilapia, a popular farmed fish, as a treatment for burns. However, some countries do not have access to the biobanks and animal models necessary for treatment of burn victims. In the United States, donated human or pig skin is generally used to graft on the injured patient. Treatment of severe burns is a critical care issue, especially in developing countries. DNA Vectors, Clones, Purified Nucleic Acids & Libraries.Antibodies & Secondary Detection Reagents.
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