Antimicrobial textiles - evaluation of their effectiveness and safety

The number of biofunctional textiles with an antimicrobial activity has increased considerably over the last few years. Whilst in the past it was predominantly technical textiles which had antimicrobial finishes, in particular to protect against fungi, nowadays textiles worn close to the body have been developed for a variety of different applications as far as medical and hygienic tasks. Together with the increase in new antimicrobial fibre technologies and possibilities in the hygienic and medical applications, the demand for proper test systems to evaluate the effectiveness as well as the safety of antimicrobial textiles rose. With the aid of agar diffusion and suspension tests, it is possible to record qualitative and quantitative data on the in vitro 'degree of effectiveness' of antimicrobial textiles. Test systems based on testing the biocompatibility of medical devices are suitable to evaluate the safety of antimicrobial textiles.