STORY LEAD:
Textile Treatment Keeps Microbes at Bay
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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
June 8, 1999
Jan Suszkiw, (301) 504-1630, jsuszkiw@asrr.arsusda.gov
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A textile treatment that has improved thermal adaptability, absorbency and
other desirable properties in fabric may offer yet another benefit,
scientists say.
In lab tests, coating cotton, polyester and other fabrics with nontoxic
polymers called polyethylene glycols (PEG) reduced by almost 100 percent the
growth of several common fungi and bacteria. Most, like odor-causing
Brevibacterium epidermidis bacteria, grow in socks and other clothing by
forming biofibrils.
The PEGs apparently mar the fibers' surface so that the biofibrils can't
attach. The substances may also dehydrate the microbes, rupturing their cell
membranes, according to Agricultural Research Service chemist Tyrone Vigo
and University of Georgia professor Karen Leonas. ARS is the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's chief scientific agency.
ARS' Vigo and colleagues originally developed the PEG treatments several
years ago to improve comfort, wear and other properties of textiles like
cotton. Commercial applications--from licensee Wisconsin Global Technologies
Ltd.--include sportswear and apparel that retain or release body heat as
needed. Another licensee, Bayshore Holding, Inc., uses the technology for
health care products like underpads for incontinence.
Last year, as part of a CRADA, the group decided to confirm and explain
earlier observations that PEG treatments also impart antimicrobial
properties, a trait clothing and textile manufacturers are keen to exploit,
says Vigo, with ARS' Cotton Textile Chemistry Research Unit in New Orleans.
The scientists found a nearly complete decrease in microbe and fungal growth
after lab tests in which swaths of cotton-polyester bedsheets were
inoculated with spores of Brevibacterium,Staphylococcus epideremidis
bacteria, and Aspergillus fumigatus and Microsporum cookel fungi. Both fungi
can cause allergies and asthma. Staph bacteria can cause skin, wound and
other infections.
In untreated fabrics, scientists observed minor reductions, most likely from
additives briefly present after processing. A fifth pathogen, the yeast
Candida albicans, was unaffected by the PEG-treated fabrics.
Another benefit: scientists believe PEGs' antimicrobial action is more
physical than chemical, so fabric-infecting germs should be less apt to
develop resistance.
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Scientific contact: Tyrone Vigo, ARS Southern Regional Research Center, New
Orleans, La., phone (504) 286-4487, fax (504) 286-4271,
tvigo@commserver.srrc.usda.gov.
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