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| AGC launches world’s first antibacterial glass AGC Flat Glass Europe, formerly Glaverbel, presented its new AntiBacterial Glass. A world première, AntiBacterial GlassTM kills 99.9% of bacteria and stops the spread of fungi, which, with the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, represents a milestone in the fight against hospital-caught infections. As many as one in every ten Europeans who go into hospital will catch a bacterial infection there, which can result in medical complications, longer hospital stays and, in the worst case, death. Some 50,000 people in Europe are estimated to die every year from infections they picked up whilst hospitalised for other illnesses. That's an astounding 21% more than the number of Europeans killed in road traffic accidents. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus-aureus), bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, present a particular problem in many European countries. The cost of these infections is also significant monetarily: surgical site infections alone could be costing European healthcare as much as €19bn annually. AntiBacterial Glass eliminates micro-organisms as soon as they come into contact with the surface of the glass. Like many great inventions, the premise is quite simple. The glass's antibacterial action is based on silver. Anecdotal evidence of the antibacterial properties of silver has been available since Roman times. Officers in the Roman army enjoyed consistently better health than did the infantry, and one of the factors in this may have been because Roman officers were served on silverware whilst infantrymen would dine on plates of baser metals. Extensive research into the properties of silver demonstrated that it does indeed have a powerful antibacterial function. AGC Flat Glass Europe's patented process involves diffusing silver ions into the upper layers of the glass: the ions interact with bacteria and destroy them by disabling their metabolism and disrupting their division mechanism. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |