Health & Medicine

Infections could lessen with fabric


By SCOTT MARTINDALE
Staff Writer

More than 100,000 patients died from hospital infections in 2000, and three-fourths of those deaths were preventable, according to a July investigative story by the Chicago Tribune.

New research by a USC expert on infectious disease therapeutics demonstrated that a soon-to-be-introduced antimicrobial fabric might drastically cut down these infections.

The fabric, which could be used in everything from hospital linens to surgical uniforms to ventilation systems, is made by Pi-Ray-America Inc., a Torrance, Calif.-based company.

Pi-Ray's fabrics were shown to have antibacterial properties in a controlled laboratory study, said George Jaresko, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy.

"If these preliminary results are sustained, (Pi-Ray fabrics) could revolutionize the garments in hospitals, in jails and in the military," he said.

In Jaresko's study, bacterial strains that do not cause infection in humans were applied to Pi-Ray fabric samples.

"There was an inhibition of growth at the place of contact," Jaresko said.

Two other southern California laboratories have confirmed Jaresko's findings, according to a Pi-Ray-America news release.

The company recently secured an agreement with Harbor Textiles Inc. of New Jersey to produce linens for the hospital industry, said Jeannie Kim, vice president of Pi-Ray-America Inc.

The company is also in talks with shoemaker Nike, chemical producer DuPont, health products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, manufacturing giant 3M and pharmaceutical company Kendall, Kim said.

The first Pi-Ray products will be commercially available by the end of the year, she added.

Pi-Ray fabrics are bioengineered using proprietary technology developed in South Korea. Mineral compounds with antibacterial and antifungal properties are embedded in the fibers of the fabric, which is about 70 percent cotton.

"It is something that you will not find anywhere else," Kim said.

In South Korea, the fabric underwent four years of scientific testing and has been marketed "very successfully" for about a year, Kim said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is testing the fabrics for widespread use in the United States.

Pi-Ray fabrics are unique among hospital linens and apparel because they are not treated with antiseptic chemicals, which tend to lose their ability to disinfect with time, Kim said.

"Pi-Ray fabric is a totally pure, natural material," she said.

Antiseptic products are crucial in hospitals because many patients suffer from compromised immune systems, which make individuals particularly vulnerable to infection.

For example, among cancer patients, about half of infections are bacterial and a fourth are fungal, Jaresko said.

Thorough hand-washing while in a hospital is the most effective guard against hospital-borne infections, said Elsie Fontanilla, a nurse epidemiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"(Patients) aren't supposed to come here and get infected," Fontanilla said. "They are supposed to come here and get well."

But some hospital infections are inevitable. For example, a patient admitted to the emergency room with a gunshot wound has a very high risk of infection. In such an emergency situation, however, saving the patient's life is more important than worrying about an infection, Fontanilla said.

Antibiotic resistance is another common cause of patient infection while in hospitals. Treating sick patients with antibiotics tends to cause bacterial resistance, which means the patient no longer responds to antibiotic drugs.

At Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, bacterial resistance is the most common cause of hospital infections, an infection control nurse at the hospital said.

"There are acceptable rates of nosocomial infection in every hospital," she said, referring to infections that occur in hospitals. "We try to target to a particular rate."

u

---

Staff writer Scott Martindale writes the Health & Medicine column, which is published every Wednesday. He may be reached at (213) 740-5667 or dtrojan@usc.edu.

Copyright 2002 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 147, No. 60 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002), beginning on page 1 and ending on page 7.

Printer-Friendly Version

Send to a Friend