Antimicrobial effect of medical textiles containing bioactive fibres.

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 cross-resistance to antibiotics, in spite of being extensively used in some treatments. Thirty-three 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 (cfu). According to the bacterial species, an 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 h for BTF. Acinetobacter strains were the most resistant to CF after 72 h (0.8 LR). All of the microorganisms, except two strains of Enterococcus faecalis, were totally inhibited after 72 h on BTF.