Emergency medical care units outperform normal hospitals when it comes to cleanness

Right after typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines semi-permanent hospitals were build to replace the original hospital, which was smashed and flooded beyond repair. An innovative wood fiber composite was used to build these semi-permanent hospitals, which consists of 75% wood fibers from recycled waste or rest wood in combination of 25% plastic (PP) resin. Now Parx Plastics has teamed up with the developer of these materials Aviplast WFC/Deltawood and they have successfully added an antimicrobial property to this material composite. This means from now on the walls of these semi-permanent hospitals can have an antimicrobial property of up to 99% within 24 hours, which is beating today’s standards for regular hospital environments.

The technology used is an innovation, which was recently identified by the European Commission as being from one of Europe’s top tech startups. This unique biocompatible technology is not making use of biocides or heavy metals such as silver, or nanomaterial’s. It’s in fact not using any harmful substances at all. By making use of one of the most abundant trace elements in the human body an intrinsic change is achieved that makes the surface hostile to bacteria. Parx equips the material with a kind of immune system against bacteria that is intrinsic in the material and is not leaching away. It is 100% safe for humans and the environment.

Permanent antimicrobial performance

Since the technology is not leaching out, as it is an intrinsic property, it provides a permanent antimicrobial protection with a high efficiency against Escherichia Coli (E.Coli, gram-), Staphylococcus Aureus (gram+) and Candida Albicans for example. Antimicrobial tests on the surface of the wood fiber composite performed by the University of Ferrara, Italy following the international standard ISO 22196 prove the initial results of 95,73%.

“This is excellent result coming from our initial tests on this material” says Michael van der Jagt of Parx Plastics. “We know now what to do to reach our target of 99% in our next round of tests.” General manager Wim Derksen of Aviplast WFC/Deltawood is very excited with this new development. “We have been an innovator in the market providing this semi permanent hospital concept, but now we are taking a big lead ahead with this permanent and safe antimicrobial technology.”

Providing a safe concept that contributes to keeping the hospital environment cleaner really counts in areas that are already challenged by circumstances.

Source

Parx Plastics, press release, 2015-04-20.

Supplier

Parx Plastics
Unife International – University of Ferrara

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