This topic came up in another thread, and I thought it should probably have its own thread. As someone pointed out, Oreck claims to have an anti-microbal coating on their bags.. My Air-way comes with a replaceable anti-microbal filter that comes after the HEPA filter. Given the high airflow through a vacuum, I am skeptical that there can be enough contact time between a microbe and the coating to actually kill microbes. When you wash your hands with an anti-microbal soap, the instructions say to keep the soap on your hands for at least 15-30 seconds because it takes time to kill them. Air passes through these filters in a fraction of a second.
 
To my way of thinking, if your vacuum has HEPA level filtration, then microbes would be caught either in the bag, or in the HEPA filter, and once permanently trapped there, they will eventually die there. I can't see that it is essential to immediately kill them because you can't be exposed to them while they are trapped there unless you are in the habit of dumping and re-using bags. I suppose that an inside the bag coating might work to kill trapped microbes because they would have a long exposure time, but would it matter? A post bag filter, like the Air-way, would seem to have little chance of doing much of anything.  In either case, will the addition of an anti-microbal filter cause the exhaust air to contain less live microbes, and if there is a reduction, what types of microbes will be reduced, and how much will they be reduced? Is there any research out there that supports the use of these types of filters?
 
I personally change the HEPA filter in my Airway to make sure it doesn't get clogged, and I change the carbon filter to keep the exhaust air smelling fresh, but I haven't been changing the anti-microbal filter because I have serious doubts as to whether it does anything useful.  I believe that most microbes would be caught in the bag before the anti-microbal filter anyway.

Microban is one of a few names companies are using to comfort people into thinking they are "safe".  Others are Bactisafe and the decades long used Sanitized.
 
Microban is only going to work on the surface of a product.  That means that Microban is only going to work at killing ODOR/STAIN-CAUSING BACTERIA on the outer bag of the ORECK.  
 
Bacteria is going to be trapped in the bag and will continue to grow.  The Microban must touch the bacteria inorder to permeate the cell wall.
 
Remember, Microban is not going to kill all microbes.  That can be a good thing.  This product, and similar, brings comfort to those who panic over bacterias.  Those who panic over putting their bagged vacuum cleaner in the closet.
 
We have been on an Antibacterial kick.  There have been so many products that kill bacterias such as hand soap.  The thing is that it has been proven that we do not absolutely need it.  We just need to wash our hands thoroughly.  What has been happening is that there is a concern about killing the good bacteria w/ the bad.  Or, leaving some of the bad bacteria to mutate into a more resistant strain.
 
There have not been any epidemics, from vacuum cleaner bags, that have put people in the hospital.  When the bag needs to be changes, just toss.  No flying dust.
 

Hi,
 
Thanks Mike.  The web's a great thing in that it not only raises questions but often answers them too.  It says that microbes, bacteria, viruses and protozoa being the major types, are the oldest form of life on Earth and can thrive in temperatures as low as zero degrees centigrade and as high or higher than 100 degrees centigrade.  Some types have existed for billions of years.  They're single-celled organisms and invisible to the eye but, as we know, can be seen with microscopes.  
 
Microbes live in the water we us, food we eat, and the air we breathe. We have billions of microbes swimming around inside us and traveling over our skin! The upside of the story is that over 95% of microbes are harmless.
 
A great point for discussion is how we (the world in general) can be led to believe that we can conquer or control them with simple devices.
 
LG's claim was not so much in regard to limiting airborne impurities but to being able to put a damper on the proliferation of those found contained within its dust collector.
 
Venson

Good point.
 
Venson

nano silver is heavilly hyped in the Air cleaner industry.  One example: a Sears Kenmore air cleaner, sourced from Sharp, touts a silver micron filter combined with its final stage charcoal filter as being a germ prevenative.
 
However, how long do the bacteria need to touch the silver in order to be "disrupted".  And for that matter, as the silver is __after__ the HEPA filter, would bacteria even get to that filter?