General Considerations on Antimicrobial Tests and Conditions Applicable in Textile Industry

Abstract

Due to the globally increasing need for utilizing antimicrobial materials, it is necessary to improve and develop newer methods and techniques for determining the antimicrobial properties of these materials qualitatively and quantitatively, especially in the medical field. Recently there has been a debate among scientists between the difference between antimicrobial test and sterility test. For antimicrobial and microbial resistance, the test is limited to the standard methods to determine the effect of the sample as an antimicrobial without paying attention to the fact that the sample is sterile or not, unless the sample was taken into sterile atmosphere and isolated with a protective suitable sterile package cover after treatment with the antimicrobial agent because the external atmosphere contains a lot of scattered types of bacterial and fungal microorganisms. In case of sterility test, the sample to be examined should be prepared, isolated and coated from the outside atmosphere, where the presence of microbes on the surface of the sample by standard methods is detected and in some sterilization tests it is prohibited to include an antimicrobial substance to the sample to be tested to avoid the interference with the test. In both cases the tests should be implemented in a sterilized room and conditions according to the recognized scientific principles. In conclusions, the antimicrobial test is used to make sure that the specimen is attained antimicrobial properties or not and the sterilization test is done by ensuring that the sample is free of contaminated microorganisms. This review poses on some factor and conditions affecting antimicrobial action and some standard test methods for determination of antimicrobial and sterility potential of materials.