Dual antimicrobial and blood repellent finishes for cotton hospital fabrics

Abstract

Antimicrobial and blood repellant finish has been applied to cotton fabrics used for surgical gowns, bed linens and drapes to reduce the surgical site infections. The extract of neem was applied to the fabric for imparting antimicrobial activity by pad-dry-cure method. The neem treated fabric was then imparted blood repellency through two different techniques, namely by treatment with fluoropolymer (3%, 4% and 5% owf) using pad-dry-cure method and by ‘sputter deposition of teflon’ technique using argon plasma. The antimicrobial activity is found to be higher for teflon deposited fabric than for the fluoropolymer finished fabric. Blood repellency increases with the higher concentration of fluoropolymer and the highest repellency for the teflon deposited fabric is observed at 80W power and 20 min exposure in the plasma chamber.