Sciessent's Joseph Geary

Embedding antimicrobials into medical devices could help stave off the more than 1.7 million annual infections introduced during health-care aid or hospital stays. In this video from PN’s recent Plastics in Medical Devices conference Joseph Geary, executive vice president of Sciessent LLC, explains the history, growing interest and necessity of antimicrobial use in the health-care industry. Silver is an antimicrobal that has a long history of use to fight infection, Geary said. "Two thousand years ago, the Egyptians were using it in water preservation," he said. "Then, into the early 20th century we started to see genuine medical applications for the silver."