U.S. News & World Report - Your genes may have a big impact on bacteria in your wounds and how quickly you heal, new research shows.
The study by Caleb Phillips, an assistant professor of biology at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and colleagues was published online June 18 in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
The authors described their study as the first to identify how genes influence wound bacteria and healing.
"This study demonstrates the ability to find variants in people's genomes that explain differences in the microorganisms that infect their wounds. Such information is expected to guide new understanding about the mechanisms of infection and healing, and the establishment of predictive biomarkers that improve patient care," the authors said in a journal news release.