A Real-Life Based Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Antibacterial Fabrics in Treating Atopic Dermatitis.

BACKGROUND: Antibacterial clothes are classified as a complementary treatment in line with antisepsis, although meta-studies are unable to find significant improvements of eczemas. METHODS: The antibacterial effectiveness of conventional AD clothes was compared across each other by (i) standard suspension tests for the appraisal of antibacterial products and (ii) a real-life setup of affected AD skin using S. aureus colonised artificial skin, to assess if functional clothes are effective under practical wear conditions. Additionally, the interaction of the fibre types with a moisturising cream was evaluated during a real wearing situation and after domestic laundry. RESULTS: In the real-life setup simulating dry skin microenvironment, all samples failed to reduce S. aureus. Silver and zinc-fabrics showed a slight activity only under unrealistic moist conditions. When using standard suspension tests, samples differed considerably in their antibacterial effectiveness, where silver and zinc endowed fibres outperformed AEGIS endowed silk fabrics. Garments absorbed the cream dependent on the particular fibre types. Furthermore, domestic laundry was unable to completely remove the cream. CONCLUSION: Considerable differences in the antibacterial effectiveness of conventional AD clothes were revealed. Under practical (dry) wear conditions, garments were unable to modify skin colonization with S. aureus, although effectiveness can be triggered by wetting the garments. Remnants of moisturising cream remain on the fibres after laundry.

Testing linen disinfection procedures in practice with phage-charged-bioindicators.

PURPOSE: Disinfecting laundry processes are essential to avoid contamination of laundering machines and linen during commercial laundry reprocessing in the health care sector. Recently a bacteriophage-charged bioindicator has been developed using MS2 as surrogate virus for testing of low-temperature disinfecting laundry processing on efficacy against viruses related to practice. This paper therefore aims to investigate application of MS2-bioindicators in chemothermal processes under practical conditions (phase 2/step 2) and in practice (phase 3). DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The experimental design was developed and modified according to the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) Standard Methods for Testing Chemical Disinfection Processes. Tests under practical conditions were performed at 60 degrees C and 70 degrees C. Additional tests in tunnel washers were carried out at 60 degrees C and 70 degrees C. In all experiments validated disinfecting laundry processes, recommended for bactericidal and virucidal performance (categories A and B), were applied. FINDINGS: The results show a temperature-dependent gradual efficacy against the test virus MS2 up to reduction values of more than 8 log10-steps. Therefore MS2-bioindicators prove to be suitable as a tool to determine the performance of disinfection procedures against viruses in practice. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Phage-charged bioindicators may be a tool to provide further insights into the reliability of antiviral laundry processes for health care quality management and for infection control.

Antimicrobial textiles - evaluation of their effectiveness and safety.

The number of biofunctional textiles with an antimicrobial activity has increased considerably over the last few years. Whilst in the past it was predominantly technical textiles which had antimicrobial finishes, in particular to protect against fungi, nowadays textiles worn close to the body have been developed for a variety of different applications as far as medical and hygienic tasks. Together with the increase in new antimicrobial fibre technologies and possibilities in the hygienic and medical applications, the demand for proper test systems to evaluate the effectiveness as well as the safety of antimicrobial textiles rose. With the aid of agar diffusion and suspension tests, it is possible to record qualitative and quantitative data on the in vitro 'degree of effectiveness' of antimicrobial textiles. Test systems based on testing the biocompatibility of medical devices are suitable to evaluate the safety of antimicrobial textiles.

Antimicrobial textiles, skin-borne flora and odour.

Along with climate and physical activity, textiles have an effect on sweating and the development of odours. Accordingly, textiles inadequately optimized in terms of clothing technology as a result of poorly cut structures or poor materials result in increased sweating and odour. However, the development of body odour itself cannot be avoided, even with optimally designed clothing. Therefore new textiles, 'treated with antimicrobial agents', have been developed, with the aim of reducing odour by decreasing the number of germs on the skin. From the scientific point of view, the interactions between textiles, sweat, skin and skin flora are extremely complex. For this reason, this article explains in more detail the basic principles of odour formation resulting from sweat and how this can be influenced by textiles treated with antimicrobial agents. With reference to the results of recent research, the article looks into questions of how textiles treated with antimicrobial agents have an effect on populations of skin bacteria.

Chemosensory Perception in the Gut.

The ability of the gut mucosa to sense the chemical composition of chyme is important for gastrointestinal functions. The demonstration of gustducin and transducin, two alpha-subunits of GTP-binding proteins involved in gustatory signal transduction, in gastrointestinal epithelial cells provides first clues to the molecular basis of enteric chemosensitivity. Nitric oxide may play a role as a secondary messenger.