New fabric keeps hospital staff cool under pressure and filters out bugs
Protective clothing made from a hi-tech fabric that wards off infection without making the wearer hot and sweaty was yesterday touted as a possible weapon in the fight against bird flu.
But the Hospital Authority refused to say whether it would introduce the clothing. Its frontline workers were among those worst hit by the 2003 Sars outbreak in Hong Kong.
The protective clothing, developed by a team at Polytechnic University using nanotechnology, is said to be able to filter out and kill bugs while allowing the wearer's sweat and body heat to dissipate.
'The experience of wearing the traditional protective gear can be quite unbearable, particularly after having it on for four hours,' said Li Yi, of the university's Institute of Textile and Clothing.
'Since the gear stops air exchange completely, it is hard for sweat or bodily moisture to get out of the gear.
'As a result, it always leaves the doctor feeling hot and stuffy inside the coat,' said Professor Li, who co-heads the project with his colleague, Professor Edward Newton. He said the fabric, dubbed the 'virus stopper', enabled one-way ventilation.