Test method for efficacy of silver surfaces as a sanitizer

A method for testing the anti-microbial efficacy of a silver-containing surface region, comprising the steps:

• inoculating nutrient agar with a portion of a stock of bacterial organisms to form a culture;
• incubating the culture to form a first incubated culture;
• incubating a portion of the first incubated culture with nutrient agar to form a second incubated culture;
• incubating a portion of the second incubated culture with nutrient agar to form a third incubated culture;
• incubating the third incubated culture for approximately 48 hours to form an inoculated test plate with a plurality of bacterial colonies;
• forming an inoculum by suspending a portion of the plurality of bacterial colonies in a buffered test solution, adjusting the test solution to a pH of approximately 7 to 8, and adding an organic soil serum at a concentration of approximately 10% to 30% by weight to the test solution;
• inoculating a silver-containing surface region of a test carrier comprising an inorganic glass material with a portion of the inoculum;
• incubating the inoculated test carrier for at least approximately two hours;
• washing the incubated and inoculated test carrier in a neutralizing solution to form a residual test inoculum;
• counting the number of surviving bacterial colonies per volume in the residual test inoculum;
• and
• calculating the percent reduction in the number surviving bacterial colonies in the portion of the residual test inoculum relative to a residual control inoculum,
• wherein the plurality of bacterial organisms is selected from one of the group consisting of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli.

A method of preparing an inoculum for testing the anti-microbial efficacy of a silver-containing surface region, comprising the steps:

• inoculating nutrient agar with a portion of a stock of bacterial organisms to form a culture;
• incubating the culture to form a first incubated culture;
• incubating a portion of the first incubated culture with nutrient agar to form a second incubated culture;
• incubating a portion of the second incubated culture with nutrient agar to form a third incubated culture;
• incubating the third incubated culture for approximately 48 hours to form an inoculated test plate with a plurality of bacterial colonies;
• and
• forming an inoculum by suspending a portion of the plurality of bacterial colonies in a buffered test solution, adjusting the test solution to a pH of approximately 7 to 8, and adding an organic soil serum at a concentration of approximately 10% to 30% by weight to the test solution,
• wherein the plurality of bacterial organisms is selected from one of the group consisting of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli.

An inoculum for testing the anti-microbial efficacy of a silver-containing surface region, comprising:

• an inoculum comprising (a) a plurality of bacterial colonies;
• (b) an organic soil serum at a concentration of approximately 10% to 15% by weight;
• and (c) a buffering solution,
• wherein the inoculum has a pH of approximately 7 to 8.