For many telecommunications and networking infrastructure, cables are generally chosen for their throughput, frequency, longevity, ruggedness, ease-of-installation, power handling, and for other electrical or mechanical parameters. These are not the only considerations, however, when telecommunications and networking cables are used in medical, food, or other applications where harmful bacteria and other pathogens may take the cables for a ride and dangerously expose patients or otherwise contaminate the surrounding environments and objects. There are strict codes in virtually every country for maintaining a clean environment that is optimally free of bacteria and other dangerous microbes where rigorous testing is used to ensure a high standard of cleanliness.
To meet these standards, it is often the case that equipment connected to telecommunication or networking infrastructure must also offer a minimum of antibacterial/antimicrobial properties, or it must otherwise be covered and sealed with an additional material or method that ensures this. In some cases, adding additional cable jacketing or shrouding may result in unacceptable cost or sacrifice to size, weight, or configurability of a piece of equipment. In these cases, using coaxial, ethernet, twisted-pair, or other types of telecommunications and data cable made with bacteriostatic and antimicrobial materials may be a preferred solution.
Applications where antibacterial/antimicrobial cables are used:
- Medical Facilities, hospitals, and clinics
- Doctor’s offices and other health professional facilities
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution facilities
- Medical device manufacturing
- Medical testing and research laboratories
- Food, beverage, restaurants, kitchens, and hospitality venues
- Meat and produce processing plants
- Educational facilities, including schools, libraries, and testing centers
- Government facilities
- Mass transit and public spaces
- Within mobile clinics, vehicle rescue, ambulances and other medical transportation carriers
Cables built with these bacteriostatic materials must still meet all required electrical and mechanical standards while also meeting biocidal material standards. These standards may include ISO 22169 European Biocidal Products etc. Dictated in these standards is that antibacterial/antimicrobial cables prevent harmful growth of common bacteria, such as Staphylococcus Aureus and E. coli to a high percentage, typically 99.9%.
Check out L-com’s range of Antibacterial Ethernet Cables.
