AUTHOR=Kuratli Jasmin , Borel Nicole 

TITLE=Perspective: Water-Filtered Infrared-A-Radiation (wIRA) – Novel Treatment Options for Chlamydial Infections?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01053

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.01053

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Water-filtered infrared-A-radiation (wIRA) is a promising therapeutic method, which is particularly used as supportive treatment for wound closure, and wound infection treatment and prevention. High penetration properties of the heat field and beneficial effects on wound healing processes predispose wIRA irradiation to be a non-invasive treatment method for bacterial infections in superficial tissues. Since <italic>Chlamydia trachomatis</italic> still represents the leading cause of infectious blindness in third world countries (WHO <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.who.int/topics/trachoma/en/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://www.who.int/topics/trachoma/en/</ext-link>) and wIRA displays beneficial effects on chlamydial infections <italic>in vitro</italic> without inducing cellular damage in <italic>ex vivo</italic> eye models and also shows beneficial effects on wound healing, this irradiation technique might represent a promising future treatment for trachoma patients. To this end, further studies investigating shorter irradiation times or irradiation of <italic>Chlamydia</italic> in chronic infections [the chlamydial stress response (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">Bavoil, 2014</xref>)] as well as safety studies in animal models should clearly be performed.</p>