The human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a great toll, and led, around the globe, to a shortage in personal protective
equipment (PPE) such as medical exam gloves. To face this shortage and keep themselves and patients safe, many front-line healthcare
providers have been overextending the life of PPE. Though not ideal, one pragmatic solution often used is the practice of sanitization
and extended use of existing PPE. The data produced by these experiments should help determine an acceptable reusability window
of PPE in a working environment, by which the effective use time may be extended and justified. The effect of repeated sanitization,
using soap and water, on the mechanical performance was investigated for latex and nitrile elastomeric medical exam gloves. Tensile
tests were performed for various manufacturer brands commonly used in the United States (Glovepak Europa, Polymed and Sempersure) and India (Surgiglove). Tensile test samples were prepared for each studied glove and treatment combination.
Nitrile gloves were observed to be more uniformly affected by the application of soap and water sanitization than latex gloves.
Glovepak Europa nitrile gloves saw significant changes (p≤0.001) in elastic modulus after 5, 10 and 20 treatments losing 31.5%,
42.7% and 49.7%, respectively. Sempersure nitrile gloves also saw significant changes (p≤0.05) in elastic modulus at 5, 10 and 20
treatments losing 44.2%, 34.3% and 45.9%, respectively. Surgiglove nitrile gloves saw a significant loss in elastic modulus of 42.0%
(p≤0.001) after 10 treatments. Surgiglove powder free latex showed no significant (p>0.05) change after 10 or 20 repeated treatments
using soap and water. Polymed powder free latex showed no significant (p>0.05) change after 10 treatments, but did show a significant
(p≤0.05) decrease in elastic modulus by 24.2% after 5 treatments and 25.5% after 20 treatments. Surgiglove powdered latex showed
a significant (p≤0.05) increase in elastic modulus by 19.9% after 5 treatments and 15.8% after 10 treatments, while showing no significant (p>0.05) change at 20 treatments.
Due to the consistent significant degradation after five repetitions, use of soap and water may not be an adequate sanitization procedure for nitrile gloves, since it would potentially induce premature failure. The latex gloves showed no clear pattern and the results
were inconclusive.
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Repeated Bleach Sanitization Effects on Medical Exam Glove Mechanical Properties
Since the mass outbreak of COVID-19 globally, the unique challenges of the pandemic have demanded the global economy, governments, and scientific community adapt in unprecedented ways. Despite pre-existing federal stockpiles of personal protective equipment
(PPE) in countries such as the United States, rising shortages and resource constraints have compounded the complexity of curbing
the spread of the pandemic and treating patients. To face such shortages, healthcare workers in different parts of the world have been
reusing PPE, especially personal protective gloves, and possibly sanitizing them through more cost-effective means such as a simple
bleach and water solution. To preserve current and future PPE resources, this study investigates the effect of repeated diluted bleach
treatment on mechanical properties of representative gloves to determine if reuse is an acceptable practice. This study aims to determine how bleach sanitization may affect material degradation of gloves when used in working environments. To this end, tensile tests
were performed on elastomeric exam gloves with and without bleach sanitization treatments. Control data were prepared for both nonconditioned and humidity conditioned glove samples. Additional glove samples were subjected to ten repetitions of bleach exposure
as outlined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention US (CDC US) guidelines. Subsequently, all glove samples were tensile
tested, and mechanical properties were determined. A statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) loss of stiffness was observed for some of the
tested samples, ranging as high as a 90% loss in stiffness. This research could serve to inform medical professionals as to whether
sanitization through bleach treatments is acceptable and if so, at how many repetitions this treatment could potentially compromise
the glove’s ability to function as intended
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- Award ID(s):
- 1928622
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10341608
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American journal of advanced research
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- July
- ISSN:
- 2572-8830
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 13-17
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.581721
