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Original Articles
Antimicrobial Properties and Blood Repellency of Dual Functional Finished Surgical Gown Material Using Antibiotic and Fluorocarbon Compound
Jeong-sook Cho, Gilsoo Cho
Department of Clothing and Textiles, College of Human Ecology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
Vol.27 Num.4 (p341~348)
Background : Bacteria-contaminated fabrics in hospital are known as a main source of cross-infection. In an operating room, a patient's blood could penetrate surgical gown material and possibly contaminate the surgeon's skin if he is not well protected by his gown. Surgical gown is not only to protect patients from contamination by surgical staff and objects during operation, but also to protect the surgical team from patient's infectious blood and other body fluids. The purpose of this study was to develop functional surgical gown fabrics.
Methods : A 100% cotton fabric which was conventionally used as surgical gown material and a spunlaced nonwoven fabric which was an efficient material for eliminating infection were used as test specimens. Each specimen was pretreated with ammonium zirconyl carbonate and then reacted with broad-spectrum antibiotic (gentamicin sulfate), and for dual functional finish, the specimen was treated with fluorocarbon compound by pad-cure method. Antimicrobial activities were measured quantitatively by the reduction rates in the number of colonies and qualitatively by the parallel streak method. Blood repellency was evaluated by the spray test (AATCC 22) and impact penetration test (AATCC 42) with synthetic and human blood. Durability of the treated fabrics was evaluated after repeated launderings in terms of antimicrobial activity and blood repellency.
Results : The results obtained from this study were as follows:
1) The antibiotic and fluorocarbon compound treated specimens showed excellent antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activity of the treated fabrics was by a controlled release mechanism.
2) Dual finished specimens showed little synthetic blood penetration and high spray ratings. Synthetic blood penetration of dual finished fabrics was negligible from the results of impact penetration test and spray test.
3) After repeated launderings blood repellency of dual functional finished specimens changed little but antimicrobial activities of cotton decreased.
Conclusion : Dual-functional-finished spunlaced nonwoven fabric would be useful as material to make functional surgical gown.
Keywords : Antimicrobial activity, Blood repellency, Dual functional finish, Fluorocarbon compound, Spunlaced nonwoven