Topical Treatment of Second-Degree Burn Wounds with Lactobacillus plantarum Supernatant: Phase I Trial

A burn wound is sterile immediately after injury, but opportunistic bacteria colonize the wound within 48 to 72 hours after the burn, causing delayed or failed burn wound healing. In addition, the presence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens doubles the treatment problems. ( ) is a well-known antibacterial and healing agent that could be used topically to treat burn wounds. This clinical trial study (Case Series) was performed on 20 patients with deep second-degree burns. Patients had bilateral wounds; the wound on one side of the body was considered as control (treated with silver sulfadiazine) and the other side of the body as treatment (treated with bacteria-free supernatants (BFS) of ). The wounds were evaluated by microbial assessments and assessments related to healing. , , and were isolated from 4 (22.2%), 0%, and 2 (11.1%) of wounds treated with on the fifth day of the treatment, respectively. Furthermore, 12 (66.7%) of wounds treated with were free from bacteria. The need for skin grafting was the same in both treatment and control groups, but graft rejection in the group treated with was (0%) ( =0.02). Regarding eliminating or reducing infection and wound healing, bacteria-free supernatants of can be considered a possible topical treatment option in the case of second-degree burn wounds.