Development of a Benzalkonium Chloride Based Antibacterial Paper for Health and Food Applications

Abstract

Pathogenic bacteria and other microorganisms pose a potent threat to humans by causing various infectious diseases. To control the spread of infection, different antibacterial products have been developed. However, most of them are known to be associated with health hazards, environmental pollution, complex fabrication, and/or higher cost. To address these issues, in this study, a low cost, biodegradable and human skin compatible antibacterial paper has been developed. A quaternary ammonium compound, benzalkonium chloride (BKC) has been used for paper surface treatment. The concentration of aqueous solution of BKC coated on paper was varied from 0.1 wt% to 0.2 wt%. No external binder was required for coating BKC onto paper. The efficacy of the coated paper was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 bacterial strains. This antibacterial paper is highly effective against both strains with the concentrations of BKC being within the allowable limit for cytotoxic effects. The optimum concentration of BKC coated on paper can be considered as 0.15 wt%, as nearly 100% inhibition was achieved with it against both strains. The developed antibacterial paper is suitable for being used in the industry for disinfection and food packaging purposes, and also by the public for hand sanitization.

The Impact of the Three Most Common Hand Cleansing Methods on the Bacterial Profile: A Randomized Clinical Trial

“…The current study showed that hand wiping with alcohol-free hand sanitizer wipes was less efficacy than handwashing with water and plain soap and hand rubbing with alcohol sanitizer in reducing isolated bacteria of the hand, and this difference was statistically significant (P<0.05), this result is consistent with Sickbert et al study [26]. Although BAC was approved as an antimicrobial in many studies [25,27], this effect extremely depends on the proper preparation with proper concentration, which is maybe not achieved in many hand wipes industries. The current studyto our knowledge-is the first one in Kurdistan-Iraq that evaluates the efficacy of hand wet wipes as an antiseptic agent, but it was limited to the antibacterial effect, further studies include the antiviral and antifungal activity should be conducted.…”

“…The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) classified BAC as a category III antiseptic ingredient for the lack of sufficient safety data [24]. The action of BAC depends on the concentration; it is used as a preservative by a concentration ranges from 0.004 to 0.01%, while the concentration of 0.15% is considered the optimum as antimicrobial [25]. The current study showed that hand wiping with alcohol-free hand sanitizer wipes was less efficacy than handwashing with water and plain soap and hand rubbing with alcohol sanitizer in reducing isolated bacteria of the hand, and this difference was statistically significant (P<0.05), this result is consistent with Sickbert et al study [26].…”

Increasing the Efficacy of Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus–Candida albicans Mixed Infections with Myrtenol

“…The last assumption may be less probable since no difference in the effect of either (−)-myrtenol or (+)-myrtenol on the S. aureus membrane could be observed ( Figure 2 ). Nevertheless, the mechanism of both (−)-myrtenol and (+)-myrtenol synergy with conventional drugs is apparently driven by membrane damage since the treatment with both terpenes led to a drop in membrane potential similar to the action of benzalkonium chloride ( Figure 2 and Figure 3 ), the membrane-permeating agent [ 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”