AsianScientist (Jan. 25, 2017) – Researchers have developed a method to turn common surgical masks into virus-killing filters. Their findings have been published in Scientific Reports.
In the event of an outbreak of influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), many people use simple surgical-style masks to protect themselves. The trouble is, such masks weren’t designed to prevent the spread of viruses.
“Surgical masks were originally designed to protect the wearer from infectious droplets in clinical settings, but it doesn’t help much to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases such as SARS or MERS or influenza,” said Professor Choi Hyo-Jick from the University of Alberta.
Airborne pathogens like influenza are transmitted in aerosol droplets when we cough or sneeze. The masks may well trap the virus-laden droplets but the virus is still infectious on the mask. Merely handling the mask opens up new avenues for infection. Even respirators designed to protect individuals from viral aerosols have the same shortcoming—viruses trapped in respirators still pose risks for infection and transmission.
While developing solid vaccines, Choi observed that sugar used for stabilizing the vaccine during the drying process crystallizes as it dries out. When crystals form, sharp edges and spikes take shape and they physically destroy the viral vaccine.
“We realized that we could use that to our advantage to improve surgical masks,” said Choi.
Choi and his team developed a salt formulation and applied it to the filters, in the hopes that salt crystals would deactivate the influenza virus.
The mechanics of simple chemistry make the treatment work. When an aerosol droplet carrying the influenza virus contacts the treated filter, the droplet absorbs salt on the filter. The virus is exposed to continually increasing concentrations of salt. As the droplet evaporates, the virus suffers fatal physical damage when the salt returns to its crystallized state.
In a series of experiments and tests at the University of Alberta and in the Department of Medical Zoology at the Kyung Hee University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, the team showed that the salt-treated masks were highly effective at deactivating a broad spectrum of influenza viruses.
As their method uses a safe substance (table salt) to improve an existing, approved product, the researchers see very few roadblocks to implementing the innovation. Choi has been awarded a provisional patent for the development of virus deactivation systems based on the salt-crystallization mechanism.
The article can be found at: Quan et al. (2017) Universal and Reusable Virus Deactivation System for Respiratory Protection.
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Source: University of Alberta.
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