Yes.
The skin hosts a microbiome, which is a complex ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses and mites living in a balance that is influenced by a long array of factors and is different between individuals and even between locations on the same individual. The microbiome does not only live as a “extra layer” on top of the skin but extends well down through the layers that together constiture the skin.
When skin suffers thermal burn, the temperature is usually elevated to the extend that the skin microbiome is not only disturbed but killed off completely. This includes both the wound bed itself and the skin adjacent to the wound bed. The microbiota seeking to colonise the wound, now completely open for invasion, is, therefore, less likely to consist of microbes moving in from the patient’s usual mircobiota. The competition for the open space is equally open to “any” microbe present in the environment of the patient. This again causes an increased likelihood of invasion by microbes that the body does not recognise to be acceptable inhabitants.
This causes a higher likelihood of leading to an imbalance of the microbiome and is assumed to be one of the main reasons why thermal burn wounds are so prone to infection compared to other wounds.
The microbiome has been shown to form part of the skin’s defences against infection from the outside world. A wound cannot, and does not need to, be kept sterile for a long period of time, e.g. for the period of the entire healing process. However, the microbiome needs to be reestablished in a controlled and balanced manner.
Only the patient’s own immune system knows the composition of the correct microbiome for the individual patient. Therefore it is necessary that the immune system governs and controls the invasion of the microbes and their settling in and reestablishement of their ecosytem.
MPPT effectively supports the immune system in restablishing the balance of the microbiome and will therefore contribute with substantial benefits to prevent infection and support the healing of thermal burn wounds.