Two world-leading firms have combined their expertise to create Europe’s first bona fide antimicrobial nitrile examination gloves.
Unigloves’ new Fortified single-use gloves incorporate silver ion technology from BioCote, which has been scientifically proven to destroy 90% of harmful bacteria within just 15 minutes and 99.5% in only two hours.
BioCote is proven effective against E.coli and Salmonella, antibiotic resistant superbugs like MRSA, VRE, CPE and CRE, invasive fungi species such as Candida auris, plus H1N1 influenza, H7N9 and the current Aussie/French flu strain.
Exposure to BioCote treated materials, like the surface of the Fortified glove, prevents microbial colonisation and also renders them non-infectious through protein and oxidative damage, membrane disruption and DNA interference.
It’s a consistently-reliable and proven complementary strategy for the cross contamination issue prevalent within hospitals, treatment centres, care homes and pharmaceutical facilities.
Measures to control the spread of infection in such highly-populated settings are widely practiced, but currently have limited success.
Going the extra mile and protecting our gloves with a silver ion based BioCote antimicrobial agent will not only significantly reduce the risk of microbial contamination, but will considerably improve duty of care to staff and customers
Ionic silver particles are simply impregnated into the Unigloves synthetic nitrile prior to vulcanisation during production and homogenously dispersed throughout the rubber polymer, as opposed to being added as a surface coating which can wear off.
Silver is an ideal antimicrobial agent due to its effectiveness against a wide range of microorganisms and this protection lasts the lifetime of the Fortified glove – it will not wear or wash off, or leach out.
Unigloves Fortified gloves are tested in accordance with EN455 (medical grade, are latex and powder free, chemical resistant, and are available in sizes small to extra large.
Chris Wahlers, managing director of Unigloves, said: “As a renowned solutions provider, we’re confident that Fortified will quickly become a must have for our healthcare and hygiene critical clients.
“Such premises are a breeding ground because of shared facilities and enclosed spaces, circulated air, common contact surfaces and extended mixing, plus common disinfectants have limited residual effects and bacterial populations are rapidly displaying increased resistance to them.
“Going the extra mile and protecting our gloves with a silver ion based BioCote antimicrobial agent will not only significantly reduce the risk of microbial contamination, but will considerably improve duty of care to staff and customers.”
Guy Charteris, partner development manager for BioCote, added: “Our quality control procedures really are second to none – products are subjected to 25-year accelerated lifecycle testing and require Unigloves to consistently demonstrate above our own global standards of antimicrobial performance to continue carrying our trademark. No other antimicrobial provider enforces this measure, but to their credit they welcome this level and degree of transparency too.”