[Herbalist] FWD: Polymer Chemical Kills Germs

Mary Temple noxcat at hotmail.com
Tue May 22 22:19:34 PDT 2001


Hmm...VERY interesting! However, a couple of questions come up for me 1) it
is my understanding that bacterial resistance comes about from the bacteria
that AREN'T killed reproducing, therefore, since this item doesn't kill 100%
of germs, a resistance would, in time, occur, wouldn't it? 2)I wonder how it
works on viruses.

Mary/Katerine

>This just popped up on my news service and I thought people here
>might be interested in it for the cooking and medicinal implications.
>We're always talking about keeping kitchens and camps and work
>areas clean, so I thought this might be of interest to at least a few
>people. -- Iasmin
>
>http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010521/17/sterile-surfaces
>
>Polymer Chemical Kills Germs
>
>Updated: Mon, May 21 5:01 PM EDT
>
>By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) - A new germ-killing polymer can permanently
>sterilize countertops, doorknobs and even surgical equipment and
>could guard against bacteria spread from sneezes and dirty hands,
>the most  common sources of infection, a researcher says.
>
>Joerg C. Tiller of Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the
>polymer coating could be applied to furniture, equipment, tools,
>children's toys, telephones, computer keyboards and other places
>where germs can lurk and spread.
>
>"You could coat any type of surface with this material and it
>would be there permanently," said Tiller.
>
>In a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National
>Academy of Sciences, Tiller and his co-authors said laboratory
>tests show that the coating, called hexyl-PVP, was able to kill
>up to 99 percent of Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and E-coli,
>all common disease-causing organisms.
>
>Tiller said the coating applied to glass slides was tested by
>spraying the slides with a concentrated solution of the bacteria
>groups common in household and hospital infections. The results
>were compared to uncoated glass slides that also were exposed to
>the bacteria solution.
>
>"The test solution was rather like what happens when you sneeze
>or cough," spraying surfaces with germs, said Tiller.
>
>On the glass slides treated with hexyl-PVP, 94 percent to 99 percent
>of the Staphylococcus organisms were killed. For Pseudomonas and
>E-coli, the kill rate was consistently at 99 percent.
>
>Tiller said the polymer kills bacteria by destroying the outer
>membrane of the microbe. This action is a chemical reaction that
>probably would not allow the bacteria to develop a resistance, such
>as happens with antibiotics, he said.
>
>The anti-bacterial coating, said Tiller, could be incorporated into the
>manufacturing process so that many products could be permanently
>sterile.
>
>Tiller said the surfaces would require periodic washing to remove
>dead bacteria that float out of the air and land on the killing surface.
>
>Tiller and his co-authors hold a patent on the chemical coating, but are
>not involved in any effort to bring the germ-killing technology to the
>market, he said.
>
>---
>On the Net: Proceedings: http://www.eurekalert.org
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