Thursday, May 18, 2006

Germ-Resistant Scrubs

Filed under: Surgery

A shadowy report from a faraway land may hint at profound wardrobe changes in a hospital near you:

Textile makers in Thailand will soon begin exporting germ resistant surgical scrub suits, a report in Krungthep Turakij said.

The Textile Industry Development Institute has joined researchers at University of Chiang Mai and the National Nanotechnology Centre to develop a kind of fabric that contains imbedded nano particles of zinc oxide. The fabric repels several kinds of disease-causing bacteria and can be used to make surgical gowns. The zinc oxide will remain active after the gowns have been washed up to 50 times.

The Institute will transfer the technology to the private sector for commercial production.

We think this technology would have more of an impact outside the OR, where strict sterile precautions aren't already in place. While we frequently wash / purell our hands, we don't always rinse the sputum off our scrubs, between patients.

A likely patent behind this new fabric...

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