Syringe Filters and Bacteria

[cosmicsunset]

I've been trying to put together a comprehensive comparison of the Sterifilt and a 0.22 um wheel type syringe filter. Is anyone aware of a study that looked at the ability of those two filters to remove bacteria?

This is pretty much what I'm looking for but it doesn't include the Sterifilt: "The Role of Syringe Filters in Harm Reduction Among Injection Drug Users," Caflisch, 1999 ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1508672/ )

I'm not sure if this investigation has even been done for the Sterifilt but I figured I'd ask here before giving up looking.

thanks!

 

[endotropic]

I've been trying to put together a comprehensive comparison of the Sterifilt and a 0.22 um wheel type syringe filter. Is anyone aware of a study that looked at the ability of those two filters to remove bacteria?

This is pretty much what I'm looking for but it doesn't include the Sterifilt: "The Role of Syringe Filters in Harm Reduction Among Injection Drug Users," Caflisch, 1999 ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1508672/ )

I'm not sure if this investigation has even been done for the Sterifilt but I figured I'd ask here before giving up looking.

thanks!

This is the website for the sterifilt manufacturer: http://www.apothicom.org/sterifilt.php

It's in french, but google will translate it for you, including this line:

Warnings: A second use is less effective and not recommended.
filtration does not remove bacteria or viruses.

 

[cosmicsunset]

I understand that the Sterifilt is not marketed for removing bacteria, but strictly speaking I don't think the wheel type syringe filters are either despite being able to remove a large percentage of bacteria.

Based on the data for particle removal in Scott's "Safety, Risks and Outcomes of Injecting Paraphernalia Use," it appears that the Sterifilt is actually better at removing particles over 10 um. However, the wheel filter does better with smaller particles, particularly below 5 um. It's probably reasonable to extrapolate this to bacteria and/or assume the Sterifilt doesn't remove any bacteria. Unless anyone knows of any better data I'll probably do that for the purposes of this comparison.