Antimicrobial Efficacy of Photocatalysts in Indian Medical Association - Research Paper Example

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Photocatalysts in Indian Medical Association Abstract The advancement in nanotechnology has resulted in the development of photocatalysts, which offer hope in the regulation of various infectious microorganisms through advanced disinfection methods. These led to the study of the antimicrobial efficiency of photocatalysts in Indian Medical Association Premises and hospital set-up. The efficiency was done based on visible light produced by photocatalytic devices using Gram-negative Bacilli from the air and various surface both in the premises and hospital set-up at a timed interval of 24,48 and 168 hours. Introduction According to (Rekha et al., 2010) the prevention of infectious diseases largely depends on maintaining a sterile environment. Lately, opportunistic bacteria found in the environment have led to the outbreak of diseases in different settings. In addition, the rising cases of microbial resistance to the available chemotherapeutic agents and disinfectants hamper the creation of novel disinfectants. As a result, the ability to control and get rid of infectious microorganisms is of paramount importance to many establishments such as healthcare facilities, food and beverage industries and water treatment plants. The ability of photocatalytic substances, for example, titanium dioxide (TiO2) to disintegrate organic contaminants in the air and water has been established by Verdier et al. as one of the methods used to kill micro-organisms. Studies by Bonetta et al. have shown that the rutile and anatase forms of TiO2 have photocatalytic activity and are active against various Gram-positive & Gram-negative bacteria, yeast and green algae such as, Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Chlorella Vulgaris. There are two key traits that make TiO2 ideal in the manufacture of building materials. (Rekha et al., 2010) They include photo-stimulated redox reactions of adsorbed materials and the photo-generated hydrophilic exchange of TiO2. Titanium dioxide is deemed as sedentary and safe material and has been used in many functions including the manufacture of several products such as paint, used as food additive, nutritional supplements among others. The first part of the trial carried by the Indian Medical Association was carried in the premises whereby they tested photocatalysts efficacy of TiO2 in the Indian Scenario. The test was done as stipulated in the ISO protocol 27447:2009. The selected area of testing included the floor, door handles and table top swap of the premises. They cultured bacteria and counted the number of colonies in each sample. There was a lot of microorganism from the three selected regions. The ground floors had largest number of the organism compared to table top swap. The next step was then administering the TiO2 antimicrobial at time interval. Starting from 24hour the colonies were not visible. Also at 48, and 168 hours the colonies had been cleared already. This shows the efficiency of the TiO2 on the bacterial colonies. It was concluding from the results that the antimicrobial antibiotics are efficient in dealing with microorganisms that may cause disease and at the same time resistant for example Pseudomonas aeruginous. The antimicrobial such as the Zinc oxide and TiO2 has been tested and has shown the effectiveness of dealing with the microorganisms The second trial was carried out at the National Heart Institute. The areas Deluxe room, washing room and isolation rooms(ICCU) specifically from air culture, door handles, table tops, washing taps and bed railing. Each had number of the microbial ranging from 10^2 to >10^5 colonies of contaminants. This indicates a higher number of contaminations of microorganisms in the hospitals compared to premises. When they administered the antimicrobial at arrange of time from the 24- 168hours, there was a significant impact. The colonies were sterilized hence enable an eradication of all colonies present before administering the antimicrobials. Conclusion From the paper, we report the effectiveness of visible light active photocatalytic devices in the elimination of Gram-negative Bacilli and maintaining sterile conditions. From the previous studies was confirmed the antimicrobial activity of photocatalytic particles in solution form. In previous other studies have used ultra-violet based photocatalytic devices while others have used solar light irradiation. However, in this study, the antimicrobial activity was demonstrated by installing visible-light based photocatalytic devices in three rooms. (GoodGuide, 2015) Therefore, the methods showed their ability to sterilize the air and all surfaces coated with the same photocatalytic formulation in areas under the illumination of the devices. It is proposed that the nanoparticles from the devices disrupted the integrity of the bacterial membranes as proposed by Sunada, Wanatabe, and Hashioto. These findings offer promising solutions to disinfection techniques, which may see to it that incidences of infectious diseases are under control. Also, it is concluded that the efficacy of TiO2 was active and efficient in its performance. It takes a short period to sterilize all the microorganism hence can be used in both the hospital and the premise and also other places as primary antimicrobial antibiotics. References 1 Rekha, K. Nirmala, M. 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