Tests & Procedures to combat the growing concerns of hygiene & viruses.
The pandemic has shifted the focus of the world to hygiene and healthcare like never before. Surface hygiene, personal hygiene, everything has received so much attention that hygiene practices are a part of regular life. Consumers are increasingly seeking healthcare or health-protective items, owing to the global increase in living standards. In addition, there has been a rise in people’s concern in protecting themselves from epidemic illnesses. So, it is to be made sure that whatever comes in human contact should come from a quality standard. To ensure this, numerous tests and assays are applied on various articles, surfaces, and materials.
From hard to soft surfaces, there is a test for every material. Iso 18184 testing lab conducts all these tests to ensure the quality of textile materials. This is done to know about the antiviral activity of the textile piece against viruses. The ISO 18184 test standard is used to determine if textiles and other comparable materials can destroy viruses.
What are viruses?
Viruses are biological entities that have a single type of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA). This specific structure distinguishes them from living organisms with cellular networks and reproduces from their genetic material by replication within the host cell, resulting in absolute intracellular parasitism virus activity. They can multiply in a receptive and permissive environment.
antiviral properties
property of any agent or chemical that causes a change of one of the virion’s structural components, resulting in the virion’s inability to replicate. Another form of antiviral action involves oxidising the material on the virus’s exposed surfaces; once oxidised, these viral components can no longer function physiologically and are rendered inert. Chemicals like hypochlorite or bleach are examples of antiviral and antibacterial substances that employ this approach.
How is this test performed in Iso 18184 testing lab?
Virus exposure durations typically range from 2 to less than 24 hours. Because different viruses may be sensitive to the underlying material in different ways, a control material is added to compare the antiviral effects of the treated textile to any inherent antiviral performance.
This data provides standard information to all stakeholders, including customers, manufacturers, merchants, and others, to comprehend the proper performance of antiviral textile goods. The plaque method and the TCID50 technique are two ways of calculating the number of infective viruses.
The technique utilised might be chosen based on the experience and convenience of the Iso 18184 testing lab. Any suitable cellular system can be used, and the testing circumstances should be recorded.
There are laboratory tests for almost all the organisms, but since viruses are a potential source of danger and multiplication, they need extra caution. And, by the current context of covid- humanity has experienced what a virus can do. Whether in person or public, people are very much aware of the viruses and other living organisms potentially dangerous to humankind. The pandemic itself is a live example that tells us the importance of every aspect of well-being and cleanliness.
Often, people do not pay much attention to this aspect of fabrics and textile. But, in reality, this requires a great deal of care. This becomes more important in the case of hospitals and medical usage. Any discrepancy here can cost heavily to all the parties involved. Therefore, the medical people and authorities pay great heed to antiviral textile fabrics. Antiviral textiles are textiles that can reduce the number of infective virus particles that contact the textile’s surface. To know about the efficacy and response of the fabric, Iso 18184 testing lab comes in handy. They can even customise the tests if the fabric is composed of various materials or different things to be tested. An antiviral product encompasses the technological disciplines of textile technology and biotechnology. Consumers, merchants, and researchers have all benefitted from these developments.
Now, even the layman is aware of the various procedures followed for safety from diseases. Nonetheless, many people are not aware of the strict medical terms. But, medically knowledgeable people know about the multiple tests and assays. These tests imply various fields and fronts. The international standard organisation guides the procedures and standards of the tests to maintain the quality benchmarks. Iso 18184 testing labs are also driven by the international standards laid down by ISO.
The health protection and hygiene connected goods have been advancing into the market, aided by the processing technology of textile goods to give high performance, which has recently developed. Because such goods are relatively new and contain specialised textile technology parts, each company has created their testing procedures.
With the growing awareness and concerns, Many people in the industry and medical field prefer testing as a part of the ISO 18184 technique for determining a product’s antimicrobial effectiveness against viruses. A valid and authorised Iso 18184 testing lab t facility can assist product development and performance testing while lowering the time and costs involved with both Durability and Antimicrobial testing.
Also read — What is the purpose of the ISO 22196 test?
