Abstract
Various antibacterial medical textiles are used in hospitals for the prevention of nosocomial infection, but antibacterial medical textiles with improved antibacterial effects and safety are desirable. We have developed fabrics made of carboxymethylcellulose-cethylpyridinium/zinc (CMC-CP/Zn). CMC-CP/Zn incorporates inorganic zinc and cethylpyridinium chloride used as a mouth wash into carboxymethylcellulose. Antibacterial effects of the CMC-CP/Zn fabric were compared with CMC-CP and CMC-Zn fabrics against the standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC12228, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC33186, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Serratia marcescens ATCC8100, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC33348. The antibacterial effects of CMC-CP/Zn fabric against the standard strains of S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and E. faecalis showed that the number of inoculated bacteria decreased to less than 1.3 log (cfu/fabric) of viable bacteria after exposure for 1 min, and the excellent antibacterial effects were comparable to CMC-CP fabric. The antibacterial effects of CMC-CP/Zn fabric in short exposure times against E. coli, S. marcescens, and P. aeruginosa were lower than those observed against the gram-positive bacteria, but the number of inoculated bacteria decreased to less than 1.3 log (cfu/fabric) of viable bacteria after exposure for 10-30 min. The antibacterial effects of CMC-CP/Zn fabric against clinical isolates of gram-positive and negative bacteria, 7 types of bacteria and 53 strains (including drug-resistant strains) were equal to those against the standard strains.
