A delivery system for delivering an anti-microbial agent to a surface in a time release manner. The delivery system includes one or more polymeric particles (e.g., microspheres, core/shell particles, latexes, porogens, cryogenically ground beads, condensation polymer particles, flakes, etc.) and at least anti-microbial agent attached thereto. The anti-microbial agents may or may not be soluble in the polymeric particle or in the monomeric precursor used to make the polymeric particle. The anti-microbial agent can be incorporated into the microsphere using either a post polymerization addition process or an in situ addition process. The delivery system can be fashioned to provide characteristics that are application specific. Examples of such delivery systems include but are not limited to substrates (such as tapes, sheets of material and the like) coated with the releasably loaded polymeric particles, sprayable dispersions or suspensions of these polymeric particles and the like.