Swabs are very widely used applicators for applications including medical care, microbiological testing, forensic testing, scientific research, and for industrial cleaning and food safety. For pig farmers, of course, they are also very much not unknown.
The introduction of the swab
The first swab was invented in 1923 by a Polish-American Jew named Leo Gerstenzang. There are many legends about how Gerstenzang invented the swab, one of which is widely circulated: one day in 1923, Gerstenzang saw his wife wrapping cotton wool around a toothbrush for corner cleaning, and based on this inspiration, he soon made his first swab.
At first he called his swabs "Baby Gays"; later, to emphasize quality, he changed the name to Q-tips Baby Gays, where Q stands for quality; later the name Baby Gays was abandoned and abbreviated to Q-tips. The common name for these products is Swabs.
Iterative Evolution of Swabs
The plain cotton-tipped wooden swabs originally invented by Gersten Sand are still in use today. As applications have become more widespread, swabs have evolved in size, shape, material and process. Swab heads can be of cotton or plastic such as polystyrene and polypropylene. Sometimes paper or thread is also used to make the swab head.
Cotton-tipped swabs
The original swab heads were made of cotton, mainly based on its cleaning power and absorbency. Cotton swabs are very inexpensive and readily available and are widely used in medical treatment for wound management after sterilization with ethylene oxide or autoclaving, and in forensic science for crime scene forensics. In the absence of a substitute, cotton swabs can be used in almost every scenario of application.
However, cotton-tipped swabs have some problems, and are increasingly not used for sample collection due to the low release rate of cotton, a natural material for samples, and the fact that some of its natural fatty acids can be damaging to microorganisms.
Rayon head swabs
Rayon is a synthetic fiber manufactured through wood pulp. Although classified as a synthetic fiber, it is essentially a natural material. In contrast to cotton, rayon is generally used for sampling for diagnostic testing because the manufacturing process removes substances that could damage the sample or react with it during transport and handling.
Polyester Head Swabs
Polyester swabs use a polyester long fiber wrap for the head material and were first introduced to the medical testing field by DuPont. Polyester fibers have proven to be effective for microbial collection, rapid diagnostics and PCR testing. Polyester swabs have a high release rate, but cost more than cotton and rayon swabs.
Foam-tipped swabs
Swabs made with medical grade polyurethane are excellent for diagnostic use and are particularly suitable for cell sampling. The swab head of these swabs is usually manufactured in sheets, and the surface pore count is usually to be 100ppi (pores per inch). This material absorbs hydrophilic substances well and hydrophobic substances poorly, and is mostly used in scenarios where chemical resistance is required, as well as for DNA and microbial sampling.
Flocked Swabs
Flocking technology was first developed for cosmetic and industrial production. The flocking process was introduced into swab production to replace the traditional winding swab head, bringing swab production to a new level. Due to the flocking process and the multi-head split polyester material used, flocked swabs have extremely high absorbency and release rates, and have proven to be equally efficient for molecular sampling and absorption. They have been designated by several institutions for nucleic acid sampling as well as for some research areas of genomic analysis.
The evolution of swabs is also not limited to changes in materials; new needs in the fields of care, testing, and research have led to the evolution of swabs in multiple dimensions. Swabs are also not only used as applicators, but also assume some roles as transport media.
