Partnership creates medical grade gloves with a difference

Two experts have teamed up to create what they say are Europe’s first antimicrobial nitrile examination gloves

Unigloves new Fortified single use gloves incorporate silver ion technology from BioCote, which issaid to have been scientifically proven to destroy 90% of harmful bacteria within just 15 minutes and 99.5% in only two hours.

BioCote claims it 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.

Biocote says 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.

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 meet the medical standard for pinholes (AQL 1.5) and are tested in accordance with EN455 (medical grade).

Chris Wahlers, managing director of Unigloves, said: “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 considerably improve duty of care to staff and customers. We have rigorously tested product efficacy to ISO 22196:2001, but partnering with BioCote has helped us no end, as they repeatedly test the real-life benefits of protected products by assessing their antimicrobial performance in the toughest environments like hospitals and laboratories.”