Intact skin

Sanitization is a cleaning procedure that reduces microbial contaminants on certain surfaces to safe or relatively safe levels, as defined by the EPA or pubHc health authorities. The article is usually cleaned with hot water and various germicidal detergents. Sanitization can be safe for a product in contact with intact skin or for food utensils, but it is not considered safe for articles to be inserted in the human body. Effective sanitization is a requirement in the processing of reusable medical suppHes before packaging and sterilization. It is also a requirement in the maintenance of utensils and containers used for food preparation. 

Care must be exercised in handling carbon disulfide because of both health concerns and the danger of fire or explosions. Occupational exposure potentially may involve as many as 20,000 workers in the United States (136). Ingestion is rare, but a 10 mL dose can prove fatal (137). Contact usually occurs by inhalation of vapor. However, vapor and Hquid can be absorbed through intact skin and poisoning may occur by the dermal route (138). 

Fig. 4. Schematic of transdermal therapeutic system in operation. The dmg diffuses through the intact skin into capillaries and is then carried into the...

A patientpreoperative skin preparation is a fast-acting broad-spectmm antimicrobial-containing preparation that significantly reduces the number of microorganisms on intact skin. 

Nitroglycerin Delivery Systems. Transderm-Nitro, Nitro-dur, and Minitran are all transdermal therapeutic systems that dehver nitroglycerin [55-63-0] mol wt 227.09, at a continuous, controlled rate through intact skin for treatment of angina (95). 

Dinitrotoluene is a highly toxic material, and is readily absorbed thru intact skin. Vapors are absorbed thru the respiratory tract. It produces a marked increase in metabolism and temp, profuse sweating, collapse and death. It can also cause dermatitis, cataracts, wt loss, granulocytopenia, polyneuropathy, and exfoliative dermatitis (Ref 10)... 

Apply transdermal patches to clean, dry, nonhairy areas of intact skin. 

Testosterone gel (Androgel) is applied once daily (preferably in the morning) to clean, dry, intact skin of die shoulders and upper arms or abdomen. After die packet is opened, die contents are squeezed into die palm of die hand and immediately applied to the application sites. The application sites are allowed to dry before die patient gets dressed. The gel is not applied to die genitals. 

All devices manufactured utilizing animal tissues or derivatives rendered non-viable are Class III except where such devices are intended to come into contact with intact skin only. 

For most chemicals, inhalation is the main route of entry into the body. However, certain chemicals (e.g. phenol, aniline, certain pesticides) can penetrate intact skin and so become absorbed into the body. This may occur through local contamination, e.g. from a liquid splash, or through exposure to high vapour concentrations. Special precautions to avoid skin contact are required with these chemicals and potential exposure via skin absorption has to be taken into account when assessing the adequacy of control measures. Chemicals able to penetrate intact skin are listed in Table 4.2. 

Some chemicals able to penetrate intact skin are listed in Table 5.2. 

Subsequent investigation resulted in a technique of inducing the required negative potential at the fracture site by electromagnetic coupling through intact skin. This were reported by Basset et al. in 1974 and were reviewed by Basset in 1889. The main noninvasive technique in use is that of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs). 

They are generally divided into the G-agents, which in the unmodified state are volatile, and the V-agents, which tend to be more persistent. Even G-agents are capable of being thickened with various substances to increase the persistence and penetration of the intact skin. The principal nerve agents are Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and VX. 

As far as man and animals are concerned, the economic poisons exert their harmful and deleterious effect after absorption and distribution through the blood stream. Relatively few agents are irritating or corrosive in their action, and their effect on the intact skin may be considered secondary (5, 8). Toxic action of economic poisons is exerted by alteration in physiologic or biochemical activity of various systems, organs, and cells. 

While the model helps us understand the chemical structure dependencies of skin permeability, it isn t all that useful for calculating permeability coefficients because of the many iffy assumptions it contains. A different tack has to be taken to gain a sense of the limits, especially the upper limit, of cutaneous drug delivery. There is no lower limit. Even proteins penetrate intact skin to some extent. Some idea of the upper... 

Excretion of hydrogen sulfide was documented after dermal exposure in rabbits. Trunk fiir of rabbits was clipped and left intact or abraded for exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas (unknown concentrations) for 1.5-2 hours the animals then breathed clean air (Laug and Draize 1942). Evidence for the excretion of hydrogen sulfide by the rabbits was a sulfide reaction of the expired air with lead acetate paper (Laug and Draize 1942). Sulfides in the expired air were noted in one rabbit with intact skin after 7 minutes of exposure. This study was limited by the lack of measurement of exposure concentrations and the small number of animals used. 

The pH of intact skin ranges from about 4.8 to 6.0, while interstitial fluid exhibits a pH that is near neutral. The low pH on skin is attributed mainly to the presence of the so-called acid mantle , a natural skin barrier to the external environment [172], Wagner et al. [173] measured both in-vivo and in-vitro pH profiles across human stratum comeum (SC) using the tape stripping technique and a flat surface pH electrode (InLab 426 from Mettler Toledo). They found a steep pH increase from pH 6 to 8 in the first 100 pm after the removal of the SC. 

Some diseases caused by bacteria are communicable and easily transferred from an infected individual to anyone in close proximity. Typically, this occurs when the infected individual coughs or sneezes creating an infectious aerosol. These aerosols enter the body of a new host through inhalation and /or contact of the aerosol with the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, or mouth. In addition, although intact skin is an effective barrier against most pathogens, abrasions, or lacerations circumvents this protective barrier and allows entry of the pathogen into the body. 

Caution The T-2 mycotoxins are the only potential biological warfare agents that can harm and be absorbed through intact skin. Aerosol doses of T-2 toxins may be ten times more potent than parenteral doses. 

---