Etched aluminium keeps surfaces bacteria-free


Now, hospital-acquired infections can be reduced by using etched aluminium surfaces in ICUs, operation theatres and other places as well as by using them on regularly used objects such as taps, bedside tables, hand rails to name a few where transmission of bacterial infections is high.

Like shark skin and wings of cicada and dragonfly that are free of any pathogens, a team of researchers led by Kaushik Chatterjee from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru used etched aluminium to kill both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant bacteria and also prevent bacteria from attaching and growing on the surfaces.

The aluminium surfaces have very minute textures produced through chemical etching which kills the bacteria and is responsible for antifouling.

In the case of drug-resistant bacteria isolated from a hospital, the etched surface that had both nano and microscale features killed 82% of E. coli (control 10%), 25% of K. pneumoniae (control was just 1%) and 86% of P. aeruginosa(control 10%). The etched surface also showed effective antifouling property against all the three drug-resistant strains......Read more

 

Source web page:The Hindu


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