According to the report, newer sterilisers based on gas plasma and peracetic acid technologies will offer the best opportunities in this segment.

Contract sterilization for pharmaceutical and other sterile medical product manufacturers will record the largest revenues among infection prevention services based on stricter FDA regulations and increasing product shipments.

Services will provide the fastest growth opportunities to the $9.4 billion (€7.7 billion) US infection prevention industry. The demand for contract sterilization services will expand at a pace as pharmaceutical and medical device producers broaden the use of outsourcing to meet increasingly stringent FDA regulations for product and package sterility.

The report said that life science facilities and pharmaceutical producers would form a small, but fast expanding infection prevention market as revised quality control standards for containment of experimental microorganisms and the production of sterile pharmaceuticals and biologicals come into effect.

The report states that the infection product & service demand is a $9.4 billion market with an expected annual growth of 4.6 per cent. This figure is made up of the consumbles and disposables market - an $8.6 billion market, the Infection Prevention Equipment sector (€3.5 million) and the Infection Prevention Services industry (€4.8 million).

Demand for infectious waste disposal services will rise as hospitals and other health care laboratories turn increasingly to outside contractors to upgrade safety standards and improve efficiencies.

These and other trends are presented in Infection Prevention Products & Services, a study from market research firm, The Freedonia Group.