Richard Hastings and Guy Charteris, BioCote’s Technical Director and Business Development Manager, were invited to present to the Technical Advisory Committee of the Red Tractor Farm Assurance for Poultry organisation (formerly Assured Chicken Production). The committee is considering Campylobacter and pathogen cross contamination and wished to understand the findings of the scientific publication: ‘
Campylobacter genotypes from poultry transportation crates indicate a source of contamination and transmission’ published by BioCote in collaboration with microbiologists at the University of Oxford (Journal of Applied Microbiology, 2011, Vol., 110, 1, pp.266-76.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2010.04883.x/abstract)
A healthy question-answer session followed the slideshow presentation with the promise of discussions continuing. The Committee was also interested in the findings of the project BioCote has recently performed with scientists at the University of Warwick quantifying the anti-influenza properties of its silver technology. A second presentation to the Technical Advisory Committee is possible in due course to share information on the effectiveness of BioCote technology against influenza virus, a significant disease-causing agent in the global poultry industry.
The environment is commonly recognised as being able to serve as a reservoir of disease-causing (pathogenic) microbes and viruses. Transmission of pathogens from one person to another via inanimate materials and surfaces is a process called cross contamination and can occur where ever people and pathogens share the same environment.
To establish an infection in the second person the pathogen must survive its time on the inanimate surface. Viruses are classified as obligate intracellular parasites, meaning they require to be inside a host for continued survival and replication. So how long do viruses survive in the environment, outside the host, and thus present a risk of cross contamination?
Most viruses from the respiratory tract including
corona-,
coxsackie-,
influenza virus,
SARS and rhinovirus have been shown to survive on surfaces for a few days. Viruses from the gastrointestinal tract, such as
astrovirus,
HAV,
polio- and
rotavirus survive for around 2 months. Blood-borne viruses, such as HBV or HIV, can survive for at least one week. Herpes viruses such as CMV or HSV type 1 and 2 have been shown to survive from only a few hours up to 7 days.
Environmental conditions play a part. The influence of humidity on viral persistence has been described but understanding is unclear. For entero-
[ and
rhinovirus, high humidity was associated with longer survival.
HSV and
HAV survives longer at low humidity. For
adeno-,
rota-, and
poliovirus, the opposite appears true.
For most viruses, such as
astro-,
adeno-,
poliovirus,
HSV, and
HAV, low temperature is associated with survival.
Inconsistent results have been presented to describe the survival of viruses on types of material. Some authors reported that the type of material did not affect the survival of
echo-,
adeno-,
parainfluenza-,
rotavirus, RSV,
polio- or
norovirus. Other studies found that survival was assisted on non-porous surfaces for
influenzavirus, on formica and gloves for
RSV and on a telephone receiver for
FCV .
As many as 16 people have died from possible listeria illnesses traced to Colorado cantaloupes, health officials say — a death toll that would make the food outbreak the deadliest in more than a decade.
http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?feed_id=0&catid=20112512&videofeed=36
BioCote offered a bottle of Bollinger champagne in a free prize draw at the recent Interplas Exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre. Visitors to the stand were invited to add their business cards to the draw which has been made.
And the lucky winner is……………
Lee Harper,
Product Development Technologist, Marks & Spencer, Waterside House, 35 North Wharf Road, Londom, W2 1NW.
Well done, Lee. The bubbly is on its way!
A partnership between antimicrobial specialists BioCote and
Matrix Plastics has resulted in the efficient and sustainable development of antimicrobial masterbatches for the global plastics industry.The two market leading companies have joined forces to raise the bar in the plastics industry and produce antimicrobial solutions to combat harmful microbes and reduce the risk of cross contamination.
Graham Harvey, Director at BioCote, commented: “With recent scares around HCAIs, MRSA and E. coli, there is an increasing need to reduce the risk of bacteria and contamination. This is where BioCote’s antimicrobial technology can play a vital role.
“Incorporating BioCote’s antimicrobial technology into products at the manufacturing stage is independently proven to reduce levels of bacteria and mould on surfaces by up to 99.99% for the expected lifetime of the product. This makes the technology ideal for hygiene sensitive environments like hospitals, care homes, schools, offices, food processing facilities, hotels and of course, our homes.”
In the past year alone, BioCote has supplied polymer masterbatch to over 100 market leading brands and companies manufacturing over 150 different BioCote treated products around the world.
The partnership gives BioCote direct access to research and development and the opportunity to use all the laboratory facilities that Matrix has to offer. In turn, Matrix produce masterbatches directly for the company, with a lead time of just two to three days compared to the average of two to four weeks.
Continued Graham: “Matrix’s technical capabilities and turnaround times have led to a dramatic increase in customer service for BioCote. We value the strong relationship we have established with them, along with its investment in people and technology to consistently go the extra mile for us.”
Matrix Plastics commitment to the partnership has been heightened by a recent Euro 200,000 investment in a new Liestriz 40mm Maxx masterbatch extruder to produce BioCote products even more efficiently and with less wastage.
Nigel Batt, Managing Director at Matrix Plastics, said: “We are proud to have been selected by BioCote as its masterbatch partner and to play our part in the fight against bacteria. Its technology plays a major role in helping to keep our work, home healthcare and countless other environments free from contamination. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership and continuing to work side by side to develop and produce new antimicrobial masterbatches for the plastics industry.”
This article appears in
British Plastics and Rubber Monthly
BioCo-Ted supported the BioCote team during the recent
Interplas show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK.
Interplas is a must for design, manufacture, process and finish players in the
British Plastic Industry with over 260 exhibitors presenting their products and solutions. Interplas is an ideal forum to learn of the latest developments in polymer processing technology.
The BioCote stand was kept busy over the three days of the exhibition with myriad visitors and enquiries many of which were promising leads . There was a magnum of champagne for the lucky winner of the prize draw which generated keen interest alongside BioCote’s recent revelation that their antimicrobial formulations have been scientifically demonstrated to possess potent antiviral capabilities.
- Interplas logo
For more information about antiviral BioCote technology, please email:
info@biocote.com
Various studies have demonstrated that surfaces and objects in healthcare environments are prone to bacterial contamination. A
recent US study focussed on hospital privacy curtains with the aim of understanding which types of harmful bacteria could be detected on these curtains, although the microbiological investigation of hospital curtains has previously been conducted, for example:
Contamination of hospital curtains with healthcare-associated pathogens.
Perhaps unsurprisingly harmful bacteria were regularly found on different curtains throughout the three week study. Those bacteria isolated from curtains included Staphylococcus aureus including the methicillin resistant form, coliforms and Enterococci including the vancomycin resistant form.
The study found significant contamination occurred very rapidly after new curtains were hung. Of the 13 privacy curtains placed during the study, 12 showed contamination within a week and 41 out of 43 curtain were contaminated on at least one occasion.
One benefit of BioCote antimicrobial technology is the proven ability to reduce environmental contamination. On the back of reports like the one refered to here, hospital cubicle curtains appear an ideal candidate from BioCote treatment.
BioCote Ltd’s mascot, BioCo-Ted, has recently returned from a trip to sunny San Sabastian in Northern Spain accompanied by BioCote’s Technical Sales Executive, Simon Thornycroft. Simon presented to Technical Sales staff of Salto Systems – another BioCote partner.
Salto Systems were off to a fantastic start to its partnership with BioCote thanks to their gaining of an important installation contract at the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi. Simon also supported Salto Systems at the
Future Health & Care Expo in Business Design Centre, London on Monday 3rd October.
Organisers of the EPS Montreal International Gene Conference have invited BioCote’s Technical Director, Dr Richard Hastings, to present at its forthcoming conference. The meeting to be held November 3-4, 2011 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada aims to provide a forum for researchers in Genetics and Genomics to present cutting edge research and learn about the latest breakthroughs and technologies.
Richard’s recently published work in collaboration with Dr Sam Sheppard, Zoology, University of Oxford, entitled: Campylobacter genotypes from poultry transportation crates indicate a source of contamination and transmission. (J. Appl. Microbiol. 2011, 110, 1, 266-276).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2010.04883.x/abstract) is the basis for the invitation.
Visit the conference organisers website at:
www.epsglobal.ca and
www.epswordlink.com for program details.
