The Effects on Normal Skin Bacterial Flora
Concern has been expressed that antimicrobial agents used on fabrics can affect normal skin bacterial flora and give rise to adapted or dominant species. This imbalance could have negative effects. This work was undertaken to: (A) evaluate the effects of fabrics treated with 3-(trimethoxysily) propyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride (Antimicrobial Treatment) on elevated populations of normal skin bacteria under an occlusive dressing and (B) evaluate the retrievable counts of the target bacteria associated with treated and nontreated fabrics. Results show clearly that fabric treated with 3-(trimethoxysily) propyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride exerted no untoward effects on the elevated skin target bacterial populations under the occlusive dressing when compared to the untreated fabric. Testing of the target bacterial flora in the fabric itself showed 99.96 to >99.99 percent reduction in the treated fabric as compared to the untreated fabric.
