Antibiotic resistance has increased dramatically in recent years, yet the antibiotic pipeline has stalled. New therapies are therefore needed to continue treating antibiotic resistant infections. One potential strategy currently being explored is the use of non-antibiotic compounds to potentiate the activity of currently employed antibiotics. Many natural products including Essential Oils (EOs) possess broad spectrum antibacterial activity and so have been investigated for this purpose. This article aims to review recent literature concerning the antibacterial activity of EOs and their interactions with antibiotics, with consideration of dual mechanisms of action of EOs and antibiotics as a potential solution to antibiotic resistance. Synergistic interactions between EOs and their components with antibiotics have been reported, including several instances of antibiotic resensitization in resistant isolates, in support of this strategy to control antibiotic resistance. However, a lack of consistency in methods and interpretation criteria makes drawing conclusions of efficacy of studied combinations difficult. Synergistic effects are often not explored beyond preliminary identification of antibacterial interactions and mechanism of action is rarely defined, despite many hypotheses and recommendations for future study. Much work is needed to fully understand EO-antibiotic associations before they can be further developed into novel antibacterial formulations.
Synthetic textiles such as polyester could potentially act as fomites of human coronaviruses, indicating the importance of infection control procedures during handling of contaminated textiles prior to laundering. This study provides novel evidence that human coronaviruses can persist on textiles for up to 3 days and are readily transferred from polyester textile to other surfaces after 72 h of incubation.
Background Infectious diseases are a significant threat in both healthcare and community settings. Healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) in particular are a leading cause of complications during hospitalisation. Contamination of the healthcare environment is recognised as a source of infectious disease yet the significance of porous surfaces including healthcare textiles as fomites is not well understood. It is currently assumed there is little infection risk from textiles due to a lack of direct epidemiological evidence. Decontamination of healthcare textiles is achieved with heat and/or detergents by commercial or in-house laundering with the exception of healthcare worker uniforms which are laundered domestically in some countries. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for rigorous infection control including effective decontamination of potential fomites in the healthcare environment. This article aims to review the evidence for the role of textiles in the transmission of infection, outline current procedures for laundering healthcare textiles and review studies evaluating the decontamination efficacy of domestic and industrial laundering. Methodology Pubmed, Google Scholar and Web of Science were searched for publications pertaining to the survival and transmission of microorganisms on textiles with a particular focus on the healthcare environment. Results A number of studies indicate that microorganisms survive on textiles for extended periods of time and can transfer on to skin and other surfaces suggesting it is biologically plausible that HCAIs and other infectious diseases can be transmitted directly through contact with contaminated textiles. Accordingly, there are a number of case studies that link small outbreaks with inadequate laundering or infection control processes surrounding healthcare laundry. Studies have also demonstrated the survival of potential pathogens during laundering of healthcare textiles, which may increase the risk of infection supporting the data published on specific outbreak case studies. Conclusions There are no large-scale epidemiological studies demonstrating a direct link between HCAIs and contaminated textiles yet evidence of outbreaks from published case studies should not be disregarded. Adequate microbial decontamination of linen and infection control procedures during laundering are required to minimise the risk of infection from healthcare textiles. Domestic laundering of healthcare worker uniforms is a particular concern due to the lack of control and monitoring of decontamination, offering a route for potential pathogens to enter the clinical environment. Industrial laundering of healthcare worker uniforms provides greater assurances of adequate decontamination compared to domestic laundering, due to the ability to monitor laundering parameters; this is of particular importance during the COVID-19 pandemic to minimise any risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
National Health Service (NHS) nurses are required to domestically launder their uniforms at 60°C to ensure safe removal of micro-organisms, 33% of NHS staff questioned said they launder their uniforms at 40°C, which could potentially result in transmission of hospital-acquired infections.
Significance and Impact of the Study: The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the need for new antiviral agents, including broad-spectrum drugs that can be rapidly deployed against emerging RNA viruses. Plant-derived natural products act on a diverse range of targets at different stages of the RNA virus life cycle suggesting they may be useful for the development of novel antiviral drugs. However, this review demonstrates that the modes of action of antiviral phytochemicals are often not well understood, and there are limited studies pertaining to in vivo efficacy, pharmacokinetic profile and toxicity, indicating that further research is required to evaluate the therapeutic potential of these compounds.
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