Antimicrobial effect of medical textiles containing bioactive fibres

Abstract

Over the last few years, the textile industry has developed different methods for obtaining fabrics and fibres with an antimicrobial action for use in hospital environments and for other purposes. This study evaluates the antimicrobial action of Bioactive®treated fabric (BTF), a commercially available textile containing silver for use in healthcare environments. Unlike other biocides used in hospital fabrics, the prolonged use of silver has not been related to the appearance of resistant bacteria or crossresistance to antibiotics, in spite of being extensively used in some treatments. Thirtythree hospital strains of bacteria were tested. This study showed the capacity of BTF for significantly reducing the number of microorganisms present, compared with the reduction observed in control fabrics (CF). The antimicrobial action of BTF was expressed as log 10 reduction (LR) from an initial inoculum of about 10 5 colony-forming units. According to the bacterial species, a LR of between 2.6 and 5.0, and 4.1 and 5.0 (5.0 indicating total inhibition of bacterial growth) were observed respectively after 24 and 48 hours for BTF. Acinetobacter strains were the most resistant to CF after 72 hours (0.8 LR). All the microorganisms, except two strains of Enterococcus faecalis, were totally inhibited after 72 hours on BTF.

Healthcare Laundry and Textiles in the United States: Review and Commentary on Contemporary Infection Prevention Issues

“…87 Despite the differences in experimental design, laboratory studies in general have confirmed the potency of these active agents in reducing microbial populations on fabrics during contact periods ranging from days to weeks. [88][89][90] The log 10 reduction observed in these studies can range from 1 to 7 log 10 , but most microbial inactivation potencies observed cluster between 3 and 5 log 10 ( Table 5). Antimicrobial activity is affected by many factors, such as (1) properties of the challenge microorganism(s), (2) intrinsic moisture content of the fabric, (3) length of the contact time, (4) method of treatment application, (5) type of fabric, and (6) number of wash cycles after treatment.…”

The Antimicrobial Scrub Contamination and Transmission (ASCOT) Trial: A Three-Arm, Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial With Crossover Design to Determine the Efficacy of Antimicrobial-Impregnated Scrubs in Preventing Healthcare Provider Contamination

“…Preclinical data indicate that antimicrobial-impregnated textiles demonstrate activity against pathogens such as S. aureus, Candida albicans, Acinetobacter spp., vegetative Clostridium difficile, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. [8][9][10] However, data to support the use of antimicrobial-impregnated textiles in clinical practice are limited. [11][12][13][14][15] We designed the Antimicrobial Scrub Contamination and Transmission (ASCOT) Trial (1) to determine whether antimicrobial-impregnated surgical scrubs decrease the burden of HCP clothing contamination compared to standard surgical scrubs following a 12-hour intensive care unit (ICU) shift and (2) to characterize the transmission dynamics of epidemiologically-important pathogens among the patient, the environment, and the HCP, a group we labeled the "transmission triangle.…”

Micro-encapsulation of ozonated red pepper seed oil with antimicrobial activity and application to nonwoven fabric

“…Compared to other bioactive fabrics containing silver ions (Mariscal et al . ), ozone‐treated oil‐containing microcapsules provided more effective and rapid protection against bacteria.…”