ABSTRACT
Photodynamic therapy dates to the time of the pharaohs and ancient Romans and Greeks, for whom the connection between the sun and health was obvious. Until the 19th century, heliotherapy was the only known form of phototherapy [1]. Heliotherapy was used in thermal stations to cure tuberculosis and to treat ulcers or other skin diseases [2]. The 20th century brought significant developments in phototherapy, particularly in photodynamic therapy (PDT) directed against cancer as well as photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of microorganisms, also known as antimicrobial PDT (APDT). PDT has gained clinical acceptance, and many clinical trials are being conducted, while APDT is in its infancy. As antibiotic therapies become less effective because of increasing microbial resistance to antibiotics, alternative methods such as APDT for fighting infectious diseases are urgently needed. Microbial biofilms cause a large number of chronic infections that are not susceptible to traditional antibiotic treatment [3, 4].
