What does antimicrobial mean?

 

When telling people about the benefits of antimicrobial hygienic wall cladding over standard / tradition hygienic wall cladding, understandably, we’re occasionally asked the question – “what does antimicrobial mean?”. Well, antimicrobial and antibacterial are interchangeable in many cases, however antimicrobial offers further protection by eliminating fungi thus meaning any mould and mould build up is almost completely eliminated.

Antimicrobial is an additional line of defense beyond antibacterial. An antimicrobial substance is one that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms, fungi, or protozoans as well as bacteria. Antimicrobial products and surfaces have been utilised in a number of different locations but are most frequently found within healthcare and food preparation environments in an effort to reduce infection & contamination. Perhaps the most popular antimicrobial is silver. Silver ions have been observed reacting with the thiol group in enzymes to inactivate them. Silver ions have also been shown to interact with bacterial DNA and prevent replication, effectively neutralizing the strain.

 
Silver based additives for PVC provide excellent antimicrobial and antibacterial performance and give plastics and polymers bacterial protection from:

Bacteria

• Acinetobacter baumanii
• Bacillus subtilis
• Campylobacter coli
• Campylobacter jejuni
• Clostridium difficile
• E.coli
• E.coli O157
• Enterobacter aerogenes
• Enterococcus faecalis
• Escherichia coli ESBL
• Legionella pneumophila
• Listeria monocytogenes
• MRSA
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Salmonella enteritidis
• Salmonella typhimurium
• Shigella sp.
• Staph aureus 
• Staph epidermidis
• Streptococcus faecalis
• Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus 

Fungi

• Aspergillus niger
• Aspergillus brasiliensis
• Candida albicans
• Penicillium sp.

Virus

• Influenza A H1N1
• And mould

BioClad’s hygienic wall cladding solutions are suitable for several professional sectors.