What is sterile cotton?

Sterile cotton is a substance without active organic contaminants such as harmful bacteria. There may be applications for material in industrial "clean rooms" that require a critically controlled environment, but was primarily developed for medical purposes. The unique features of cotton, especially its hypoallergenic quality, is ideal. Various technologies have been developed to be sterile. When it spins, the fibers are firmly done together in a thick and strong thread due to its size. The fiber can be knit and woven. Many cotton products are used in the hospital or medical environment, and most of them must be sterilized to avoid exposure to patients with potentially contagious bacteria, viruses and other harmful pathogens. However, it may be insufficient to disinfect them for reuse. If, for example, a patient received for infectious diseaseStage and must get rid of any organic trace of the previous user. Most hospitals have their own autoclave for this purpose. Autoclave is basically an oven that sterilizes its content with steam and pressure to at least 250 ° Fahrenheit (121 ° C) for 15 minutes.

woven cotton has properties especially suitable for medical applications. Most organic liquids are not affected. There were no documented human allergic reactions to textiles. Loosely woven, is highly absorbent; Firmly woven, it is almost waterproof.

One environment in which sterile equipment is absolutely required is the operating room. There are two woven sterile Cotton Products used here exclusively: weaving weaving and gauze binding of the fungus. The first is a towel that is used, for example, to align the tray of surgical instrument. The sponge is named for its use to absorb and remove excess blood during surgeryto the eye. A similar sterile cotton gauze cloth is used as wound pads and also as adhesive sterile bandages.

Sterilization of towels into a disposable operating room, surgical fungi and adhesive bandages, such as Band-Aid®, are usually performed by irradiation. Within the strongly protected chamber, these products and other medical tools, such as subcutaneous needles and surgical scalpels, are exposed to a radioactive cobalt, which emits deadly gamma rays. Although this process is technically dangerous, it is very effective and leaves the resulting sterile cotton products radioactive harmless.