Keyboard Contamination in Intensive Care Unit: Is Cleaning Enough? Prospective Research of In Situ Effectiveness of a Tea Tree Oil (KTEO) Film

After the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, disinfection practices and microbial load reduction have become even more important and rigorous. To determine the contamination of keyboard surface and the relative risk to transfer healthcare-associated pathogens to susceptible patients, as it frequently happens in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a standard keyboard (SK), a cleanable keyless keyboard (KK) with smooth surface and a standard keyboard coated with a 3M Tegaderm film added with active essential oil (tea tree oil) (KTEO) were tested. S. aureus, including MRSA strains, were detected in ICU, with values ranging from 15% to 57%. Gram negative strains belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family were also found with values ranging from 14% to 71%. Similar Gram positive and Gram negative strains were found on all surfaces, but with low percentage, and only environmental bacteria were detected using the settling plates method. The Microbial Challenge Test performed on KTEO showed high rates of decrease for all the pathogens with statistical significance both at 24 and 48h (p=0.003* and p=0.040*, respectively). Our results suggest that the use of KTEO may be a feasible strategy for reducing the transmission of pathogens in health care setting and may be complementary to surface cleaning protocols

Efficient silver nanoparticles deposition method on DBD plasma-treated polyamide 6,6 for antimicrobial textile

The study of antimicrobial fabrics with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) incorporation has shown excellent properties in medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and electronics applications due to their formidable action against pathogens, preventing and treating infections.[1] The high surface-to-volume ratio from AgNPs promotes an easy release of silver ion, responsible for the antimicrobial effect.[2] The most traditional method for nanoparticles deposition onto fabrics is the pad-dry-cure technique.[3] Other methods were developed such as dip coating, electrochemical methods and layer-by-layer depositions.[4-6]. However, the major methods have several limitations for noble metals. In this work, several methods for AgNPs deposition on Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma pre-treated polyamide 6,6 (PA66) were tested for the production of durable antibacterial textiles. DBD plasma was previously used for surface modification to increase surface energy through the introduction of polar groups altering wettability and roughness.[7] However, the study for an efficient deposition methods after plasma treatment was disregarded. SEM, XPS, cytotoxicity and antimicrobial tests were performed to evaluate the different deposition methods.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Surface modifications for antimicrobial effects in the healthcare setting: a critical overview

The spread of infections in healthcare environments is a persistent and growing problem in most countries, aggravated by the development of microbial resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants. In addition to indwelling medical devices (e.g. implants, catheters), such infections may also result from adhesion of microbes either to external solid–water interfaces such as shower caps, taps, drains, etc., or to external solid–gas interfaces such as door handles, clothes, curtains, computer keyboards, etc. The latter are the main focus of the present work, where an overview of antimicrobial coatings for such applications is presented. This review addresses well-established and novel methodologies, including chemical and physical functional modification of surfaces to reduce microbial contamination, as well as the potential risks associated with the implementation of such anticontamination measures. Different chemistry-based approaches are discussed, for instance anti-adhesive surfaces (e.g. superhydrophobic, zwitterions), contact-killing surfaces (e.g. polymer brushes, phages), and biocide-releasing surfaces (e.g. triggered release, quorum sensing-based systems). The review also assesses the impact of topographical modifications at distinct dimensions (micrometre and nanometre orders of magnitude) and the importance of applying safe-by-design criteria (e.g. toxicity, contribution for unwanted acquisition of antimicrobial resistance, long-term stability) when developing and implementing antimicrobial surfaces

Nanofiber-based Aerogels: Polymer and Colloid Highlights

Nanofiber-based aerogels or sponges are made from preformed polymeric nanofibers. They are very porous, ultralight and have a large internal surface as classical aerogels. But their network of interconnected fibers renders them also elastic and mechanically resilient. Moreover, they show a hierarchic architecture with minor primary pores between tangled nanofibers and major cell-like pores. Nanofiber aerogels can be tailored to many applications due to flexibility in the choice of polymer together with the possibility to chemically modify the surface of the fibers. Possible applications include filtration, thermal insulation, support for catalysts, or scaffolds for tissue engineering. Mostly, synthetic polymers such as PAN and PVA have been used as fiber materials or their blends with biopolymers such as pullulan and gelatin