Healthcare/hygiene products

Another area that requires a large amount of specially finished textile products is that of Healthcare and Hygiene products that Include bedding, clothing, surgical clothes, products for feminine hygiene like sanitary napkins, baby and adult diapers etc.

According to a report hospital-acquired infections in England cost the National Health Service in the region of 1 billion pounds (infections result in an average extension to a hospital stay of 11 days per patient) each year and at least 5,000 patients die of complications from infections that they contracted in hospitals. At any given time, 9% of hospitalised patients in the UK, that is, 300,000, have an infection that they did not have before they arrived. Many of these infections are caused due to unhygienic conditions prevalent in hospitals.

Bed sheets

Patients while in hospital constantly come in contact with the bed sheets and pillows provided in the bed. Number of products and treatments have been developed and commercialised for producing fabrics for bed sheets and pillow covers with antimicrobial, odour absorbing, temperature regulating, blood repelling and anti-allergic properties that finding their way in hospitals.

A number of manufacturers are producing antimicrobial sheets and pillows that keep bedding cleaner and prevent foul odour. Both bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal type of antimicrobial agents have been used for treatment of bed sheet and pillow fabrics. For instance Rest Right Pillow with SilPure treatment of American Textile Co is polyester fiberfill pillow treated with SilPure, a nano-silver-based treatment that claims to prevent bacterial growth and bad smells. A cotton barrier keeps out dust mites, which doctors say can be helpful in reducing allergy symptoms.

Another product incorporating metal compound as antimicrobial agent is the Cupron bed sheets. Cupron's manufacturing technology permanently binds its proprietary copper compound to textile fibres. Copper's antimicrobial properties have been known for more than five millennia. The ancient Egyptians used copper pipes to transport water to destroy parasites and other water-borne pathogens. Antimicrobial propensity of metals and metal salts has been attributed to their ability to deactivation of proteins.

N-Halamines, having oxidative properties, have been incorporated in the bed linen by the Vanson HaloSource, Inc. The company's HaloShield technology, introduced in 2004, harnesses N-halamine molecules that attract chlorine molecules in the wash cycle and binds chlorine on the fabric. When bacteria and viruses come into contact with chlorine in the fabric, chlorine kills the microbes as shown in Fig 1.

Gang Sun, professor of textiles and clothing at the University of California, Davis and one of the developers of HaloShield technology has said that. "In light of the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the use of HaloShield can be a major development in the battle against microbes that spread infection." For the first time, hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities will be able to use HaloShield sheets and pillowcases to combat the spread of a wide range of resistant bacteria, viruses and other microbes, including MRSA, a form of staph bacteria, which is blamed for about 13% of the USA's two million hospital infections each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, hospital infections kill 60,000 to 80,000 people a year at an average annual cost of $ 6 million per hospital.

Another product that has Nanocide Antimicrobial developed by CMI Enterprises has been introduced in the market in 2006. The products sold under the trade name 'Dimensions' have shown that 99.9% of resistant Staphylococcus germs that come in contact with it, are killed within 30 minutes. It is claimed that with the Nanocide Antimicrobial treated fabrics, hospitals, clinics, dental offices, and nursing homes can now provide an environment that is essentially risk free of contamination, and subsequent patient infection and other potential health related issues from seating and bedding upholstery material.