DIN EN ISO 20743:2013-12

This document has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 38 "Textiles", in collaboration with Technical Committee CEN/TC 248 "Textiles and textile products", the secretariat of which is held by BSI (United Kingdom). The responsible national committee is Working Committee NA 062-05-42 AA "Biologische Prüfung von Textilien" ("Biological testing of textiles") of the Materials Testing Standards Committee (NMP). This document specifies quantitative test methods to determine the antibacterial activity of all antibacterial textile products including nonwovens. This document is applicable to all textile products, including cloth, wadding, thread and material for clothing, bedclothes, home furnishings and miscellaneous goods, regardless of the type of antibacterial agent used (organic, inorganic, natural or man-made) or the method of application (built-in, after-treatment or grafting). Based on the intended application and on the environment in which the textile product is to be used and also on the surface properties of the textile properties, the user can select the most suitable of the following three inoculation methods on determination of antibacterial activity: a) absorption method (an evaluation method in which the test bacterial suspension is inoculated directly onto specimens); b) transfer method (an evaluation method in which test bacteria are placed on an agar plate and transferred onto specimens); c) printing method (an evaluation method in which test bacteria are placed on a filter and printed onto specimens). The colony plate count method and the ATP (ATP = Adenosine Tri-phosphate) luminescence method are also specified for measuring the enumeration of bacteria. These test methods have been prepared to emphasize the substantial need for an International Standard for the determination of the antibacterial activity for antibacterial textile products.