Page 95
I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
given prizes, like movie passes or restaurant gift certificates.
Surface disinfection is extremely serious business, after all, and if
small rewards like those help motivate people to do the job well,
they're worth every penny. OSM
Ms. Pettis (annmarie_pettis@urmc.rochester.edu) is the director of infection
prevention at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.
SHARKS, CICADAS AND DRAGONFLIES
New Strategies Come to the Surface
T
he future of sterilization and disinfection
may have less to do with what you wipe
— or spray — on surfaces, and more to
SHARK SKIN Sharklet is a
non-toxic approach to bacterial
control, a revolutionary surface
technology that inhibits the
growth of microorganisms
do with the surfaces themselves. If so, we'll likely
owe a debt of gratitude to sharks, cicadas and
dragonflies.
The observation that, unlike virtually every other
creature and material that's exposed to water, sharks aren't susceptible to biofouling, led to the
discovery that shark skin contains millions of tiny "skin teeth" arranged in diamond patterns. The
structure and design work to discourage microorganisms from latching onto them. That revelation
has led to the creation of Sharklet, a sheet-plastic product that mimics the structure and can be
applied to any number of surfaces, including medical devices. Testing in the healthcare environment is still in the early stages, but one huge potential advantage is that Sharklet's repellant properties aren't chemical, so there's no way for bacteria to develop resistance.
More recently, Australian scientists were amazed to discover that the wings of cicadas and
dragonflies contain regularly spaced nanopillars, or spikes, that slice bacteria to shreds as they
settle on their surface. The wings feel smooth to the touch, but have been found to be remarkably
effective in killing certain targeted bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus. The scientists say
there's no reason synthetic materials with similar effectiveness can't be manufactured.
— Jim Burger
