Antimicrobials: Healthcare's Silver Bullet Against HAIs?

Antimicrobial Hardware

Hardware is one of the high-touch surfaces in a hospital, and is another category in which antimicrobials are making a big appearance in the marketplace. Component Hardware Group, a manufacturer of hardware components for the healthcare arena and other industries, offers its products with Saniguard, a built-in antimicrobial treatment for metal and plastic products and coatings. When microbes, such as bacteria, yeasts, molds, and fungi, come into contact with a treated product surface, Saniguard’s inorganic, silver ion technology actively inhibits their growth by hindering cell wall transmissions, disrupting cell metabolism, and interfering with cellular reproduction. MicroShield is a hardware finish coating designed to permanently suppress the growth of bacteria, algae, fungus, mold and mildew for the lifetime of the hardware components under normal wear-and-tear conditions. The AgION antimicrobial compound is a silver-based antimicrobial agent that is incorporated into the MicroShield coating. Sargent, a hardware manufacturer, offers its product lines coated with MicroShield.