Author(s)

Robert Engel¹, Karin Melkonian², Jay Ho¹, Jaime Lee Iolani Rizzo³

¹Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY, USA.
²Department of Biology, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, Greenvale, NY, USA.
³Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University, New York, NY, USA.

The continued evolution of bacterial and fungal species poses a significant difficulty for the treatment of disease of microbial origin. Given this situation, the prevention of transmission of such microbial diseases becomes of increasing importance. Efforts of this laboratory have been directed toward the destruction of microbial species on environmental surfaces as a prophylaxis toward infection, and we herein report on the efficacy of a system that demonstrates activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi. We report specifically herein on the use of fabric materials so activated for the destruction of these microbial species, useful for a variety of surfaces within hospital and related settings wherein transmission of microbial disease is a major problem, while these approaches are also applicable for a variety of other types of surfaces.

Antimicrobial, Polycationic Organic Salts, Cell Disruption, Fabric, Environmental Surfaces, Prophylaxis

Engel, R. , Melkonian, K. , Ho, J. and Iolani Rizzo, J. (2016) Polycations. 23. Antimicrobial Surfaces for Prevention of Pathogen Transmission. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7, 559-565. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2016.79061.