Tag: PPE

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A New Easy-to-Apply Antimicrobial Coating

On By ModernMedia
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Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by up to 90%. It could even be developed to be applied to fabric by almost anyone.

“When you’re walking into a hospital, you want to know that pillow you’re putting your head onto is clean,” said lead author Taylor Wright, a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia. “This coating could take a little bit of the worry off frontline workers to have Personal Protection Equipment with antimicrobial properties.”

Researchers soaked fabric in a solution of an antimicrobial polymer which contains a molecule that releases reactive oxygen species when light shines on it. They then used UV light to turn this solution to a solid, fixing the coating to the fabric. “This coating has both passive and active antimicrobial properties, killing microbes immediately upon contact, which is then amped up when sunlight hits the cloth,” said senior author Professor Michael Wolf.

Both components are safe for human use, and the entire process takes about one hour at room temperature, said Wright. It also makes the fabric hydrophobic, without sacrificing fabric strength. The researchers detailed their study in American Chemical Society Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The coating can also be used on almost any fabric, with applications in hospital fabrics, masks, and activewear. While other such technologies can involve chemical waste, high energy use, or expensive equipment, the UBC method is relatively easy and inexpensive, said Wright. “All we need is a beaker and a light bulb. I’m fairly certain I could do the whole process on a stove.”

To test the coating’s antimicrobial properties, the researchers bathed treated fabric in bacterial soups of Escherichia coli and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). They found that 85% of viable E. coli bacteria remained after 30 minutes, which fell to three per cent when the treated cloth was exposed to green light for the same amount of time. Similarly, 95% of viable MRSA bacteria remained, dropping to 35% under green light. No bacteria remained after four hours.

While sunlight or fluorescent lights have a lesser percentage of green in their spectrums, the team expects similar but less intense results for fabric exposed to those light sources, said Wright. “Particularly in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not always a sunny day. So, at all times you’re going to have that layer of passive protection and when you need that extra layer of protection, you can step into a lit room, or place the fabric in a room with a green light bulb – which can be found for about $35 online.”

The researchers also looked into whether the coating reduced the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by bathing treated fabric in a solution of the virus particles and then adding that solution to living cells to see if they could infect them. They found the passive properties were ineffective against the virus, but when treated fabric was exposed to green light for two hours, there was up to a 90% drop in the virus’ infectivity. “In other words, only one tenth of the amount of virus signal was detected on cells infected with the UV-fabric and light treated virus”, says co-author Professor François Jean.

The team found they needed an 18cm2 piece of fabric to kill microbes with material containing 7% of the active ingredient by weight, but that increasing this to 23% increased the effectiveness of the fabric at four times less material, said Wright.

Researchers also found that keeping the fabric under green light for more than 24 hours failed to produce the sterilising forms of oxygen, highlighting an area for further study. This is a similar effect to the colour fading on clothing after being exposed to sunlight for too long.

“Biomanufacturing face masks based on this new UBC technology would represent an important addition to our arsenal in the fight against COVID, in particular for highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern such as Omicron”, said Prof Jean. The coating can also be used for activewear, with an ‘anti-stink’ coating applied to areas where people tend to sweat, killing off the bacteria that makes us smell. Indeed, hospital fabric and activewear companies are already interested in applying the technology, and the university has applied for a patent in the United States, said Prof Wolf.

Source: University of British Columbia

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New Mask Recycling Technology Could Cut Down on Waste

On By ModernMedia
Phot by Artem Podrez on Unsplash

Researchers have developed a way to quickly disinfect and electrostatically recharge used N95 respirators, restoring their effectiveness against COVID and other airborne diseases.

In their study published in Environment Science & Technology, the University of South Florida (USF) team showed their sterilisation technology could restore an N95 respirator’s original filtration efficiency of about 95 percent, even after 15 cycles of treatment. The technology fights coronavirus by using corona discharge, an electrical technique which simultaneously deactivating pathogens on a mask and restoring its electrostatic charges. It doesn’t require heat, or chemicals or contact, making it safe and convenient to use. It is safer than ultraviolet (UV) radiation and uses little electricity.

As well as restoring protection, the corona discharge treatment can reduce the impact of used masks on the environment. In a report by OceansAsia, a marine conservation organisation, 1.56 billion face masks polluted the oceans in 2020 and will likely take more than 450 years to fully decompose. The researchers say the technology will limit mask consumption to dozens each year instead of hundreds.

“It is a reduction of 90 percent for each user. If we assume that 10 percent of the population all over the world takes advantage of corona discharge mask reuse technology, there will be four- five billion fewer masks disposed to the environment,” said project lead Ying Zhong, assistant professor in the USF Department of Mechanical Engineering. “It will reduce at least 24 million tons of plastic pollution and reduce the amount of chemicals used for mask disinfection and avoid their environmental impact.”

“Despite the challenging conditions of the pandemic, this was the most thrilling project that I have ever worked on. We wish our research advances the understanding of how corona discharge disinfection can be turned into products on the market as soon as possible,” said co-project lead Libin Ye, assistant professor in the USF Department of Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Microbiology.

The researchers are now working to develop this technology into products for hospitals and use by the general public, including handheld sterilisation devices.

Source: EurekAlert!

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Upgrade to FFP3 Face Mask Dramatically Cuts Infections

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

Upgrading face masks to filtering face piece (FFP3) respirators for healthcare workers on COVID wards produced a dramatic reduction in hospital acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections, according to a preliminary study published in the BMJ.

For most of 2020, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust followed national guidance that healthcare workers should use fluid resistant surgical masks as respiratory protective equipment unless aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) were being carried out when FFP3 respirators were advised.

From the pandemic’s outset, the trust has been regularly screening its healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 even when asymptomatic. They found that healthcare workers on “red” COVID wards had a greater infection risk than staff on “green” wards, even with protective equipment. So in December 2020 the trust implemented a change in policy so that staff on red wards wore FFP3 masks instead of fluid resistant surgical masks. The FFP3 standard requires that masks filter 99% of all particles measuring up to 0.6 μm.

The study was carried out at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Before the change in policy, cases among staff were higher on COVID versus non-COVID wards in seven out of eight weeks analysed. Following the change in protective equipment the incidence of infection on the two types of ward was similar. Of 609 positive results over the eight week study period, 169 were included in the study. Healthcare workers who were not ward based or worked between different wards were excluded, as were, non-clinical staff, and staff working in critical care areas.

The researchers developed a simple mathematical model to quantify the risk of infection for healthcare workers. This found that the risk of direct infection from working on a red ward prior to the policy change was 47 times greater than the corresponding risk from working on a green ward. While almost all cases on green wards were likely caused by community-acquired infection, cases on red wards at the beginning the study period were attributed mainly to direct, ward-based exposure.

The model also suggested that the introduction of FFP3 respirators provided 100% protection (confidence interval 31.3%, 100%) protection against direct, ward based covid infection.

Study author Chris Illingworth, from the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, said: “Before the face masks were upgraded, the majority of infections among healthcare workers on the COVID wards were likely because of direct exposure to patients with COVID. Once FFP3 respirators were introduced, the number of cases attributed to exposure on COVID wards dropped dramatically—in fact, our model suggests that FFP3 respirators may have cut ward based infection to zero.”

Michael Weekes from the department of medicine at the University of Cambridge added: “Our data suggest there’s an urgent need to look at the PPE offered to healthcare workers on the frontline. Upgrading the equipment so that FFP3 masks are offered to all healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID could reduce the number of infections, keep more hospital staff safe, and remove some of the burden on already stretched healthcare services caused by absence of key staff because of illness.”

Source: The BMJ

Journal information: BMJ 2021;373:n1663

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New Biomaterials Could Boost Vaccines or Self-sterilise PPE

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Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science describe two technologies currently being researched that could be of great benefit in fighting viruses.

These technologies could enhance the effectiveness of vaccines, and also make surfaces destructive to viruses.

“It is important not just in terms of COVID,” explained author Kaushik Chatterjee. “We’ve seen SARS, and MERS, and Ebola, and a lot of other viral infections that have come and gone. COVID has, of course, taken a different turn altogether. Here, we wanted to see how biomaterials could be useful.”

The technologies combine the field of biomaterials, which are designed to interact with biological systems, along with nanotechnology, where structures are engineered on a tiny scale. Biomaterials have been used for dental implants and joint replacements, while nanotechnology has been harnessed for drug delivery systems.

One application the authors describe is the combination of nanotechnology and biomaterial could be used to prepare the immune system to recognise vaccine antigens.

“It is a means of stimulating the immune cells which produce antibodies during the vaccination,” explained author Sushma Kumari. “It is like a helper, like priming the cells. Now, the moment they see the protein, the cells are more responsive to it and would be secreting more antibodies.”

Another technology application is surfaces that disinfect themselves. By putting an electrical charge onto the surfaces, they could be made into a hostile coating that damages or destroys virus particles when they fall onto them. These surfaces could be used for PPEs and high-touch items such as doorknobs. This would save considerable time, effort and expense in regularly disinfecting surfaces with chemicals or UV irradiation. A similar existing technology is the use of silver nanoparticles as antibacterial medical device coatings.

This technology is very much in its early stages, the researchers stressed. Research needs to be done on which biomaterials are suitable for fighting viruses, and the solution for one disease may not be applicable to another.

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: “Biomaterials-based formulations and surfaces to combat viral infectious diseases” APL Bioengineering, DOI: 10.1063/5.0029486