![]() ![]() Ī way forward to improve the level of indoor hygiene by minimizing infection transmission is to use materials that have inherent antimicrobial properties (e.g., silver-containing materials and copper-based alloys) or that are coated or treated with antimicrobial additives for high-touch applications. To provide information on risk evaluation, prudent use, and cleaning of antimicrobial coatings, SAMK has actively participated in the European COST Action network AMiCI (Antimicrobial coating innovations to prevent infectious diseases). The main idea of IHC is to create an innovative and comprehensive overarching solution implemented already during the construction phase in order to improve the level of hygiene during the whole life cycle of the building. Several related studies have been conducted on IHC effects on the microbial burden in public spaces such as kindergartens, hospitals, and elderly care homes. Pioneering work in consolidating all central indoor hygiene elements (air, water, surfaces) to a comprehensive indoor hygiene concept (IHC) has been done by Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK). However, individual products are not enough to break the infection chain in indoor environments. Technologies based on, for example, anti-microbial coatings on touch surfaces aiming to improve the level of hygiene and reduce the transmission of infections in building environments are already commercially available. Research on different technologies aiming to improve infection prevention and control has been carried out for decades. For example, the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic have been estimated to be over $16 trillion in the USA alone. The economic consequences of infections transmitted mostly indoors can be extremely high. Usually, measures against more severe infections like COVID-19 and AMR are often also effective against traditional causes of infections, such as influenza, common flu, and stomach flu. Thus, the prevention of infection transmission is getting more attention, especially in public spaces. Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria pose a threat not only in hospitals causing HAIs but are also detected in public spaces where many people spend their time or pass through. Less active measures in public communication have been taken related to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria causing HAIs, which by 2050 are estimated to kill more people than cancer, reaching up to 10 million deaths per year. Cleaning with the oxidizing agent resulted further in increased wettability and presence of residues on the surfaces, effects that were beneficial from an antimicrobial efficacy perspective.ĭuring the last two years, intensive attention has been paid to improved hand hygiene and cleanliness of indoor spaces to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. ![]() Surface cleaning with an oxidizing chemical agent was more efficient in killing bacteria compared with an agent composed of biologically degradable constituents. ![]() No detectable amounts of silver were observed at the top surfaces, though silver was released into artificial sweat in concentrations a thousand times lower than regulatory threshold values stipulated for materials and polymers in food contact. The results elucidate that the antimicrobial efficacy was highly bacteria dependent (Gram-positive or Gram-negative), not hampered by differences in surface weathering but influenced by the amount of silver-doped additive. High-touch conditions in indoor environments were simulated by different extents of pre-weathering (repeated daily cycles in relative humidity at constant temperature) and simplified fingerprint contact by depositing small droplets of artificial sweat. This study investigates the antimicrobial efficacy and surface reactivity of commercial laminate and powder coated surfaces treated with silver-doped phosphate glass as antimicrobial additive towards two model bacterial strains, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, in relation to surface weathering and repeated cleaning. Increasing the use of hygienic high-touch surfaces with antimicrobial properties in health care and public spaces is one way to hinder the spread of bacteria and infections.
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