Each year, twice as many people die in Europe from hospital acquired infections than from road accidents. These infectious diseases have developed antibiotic resistance and are able to spread, despite the best efforts of staff. However, the technology developed by a European research project helps fight back against "superbugs" by using a revolutionary nanotechnology to treat bed linen and other textiles.
The team has developed a durable antimicrobial textile with a polymeric coating within the nano range thickness. This means that the material is in the order of a few layers of polymeric molecules.
The textiles have been clinically tested to withstand industrial-strength laundry cycles, and the treatment lasts for the entire lifetime of the product.
The technology comes at a crucial point in time since the role of textile surfaces as a ubiquitous host for bacteria has been underestimated up until very recently. Before, it was assumed that a wash alone would disinfect the material, but in the short journey from laundry to the hospital, there has been found to be all sorts of opportunities for new infections.
The technology can treat both natural and artificial fibers, and the procedure itself is simply a dip in a bath, followed by drying and curing. Nanobond’s tests show that it kills 99.99% of all micro-organisms after the first treatment, a figure that stays as high as 90%, even after 70 washes.
More on the Horizon 2020 website
