Anti-Coronavirus Surface Coating Could Be Effective for Months

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has a nasty habit of lingering on surfaces for extended periods of time. For example, active virus particles were found on the Diamond Princess cruise ship 17 days after it had been evacuated. Disinfectants in current use temporarily remove the virus from surfaces such as doorknobs and handrails but don’t protect them from being contaminated anew. Scientists in Israel are engineering novel surface coatings that will have a long-term effect neutralizing the virus, according to a news report. The coatings contain nanoparticles of safe metal ions and polymers with anti-viral and anti-microbial activity that can be sprayed or painted on surfaces. PhD student Esti Toledo (seated) and post-doc Guillaume Le Saux, shown here in Dr. Mark Schvartzman's laboratory, participated in the research. Image courtesy Dani Machlis. Researchers at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) and the National Institute of Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN), a research institute within BGU, have assessed the effect of surfaces coated with nanoparticles of various metals on the infectivity of lentiviruses, which belong to the HIV family, in human cells. Findings show that surfaces coated with copper nanoparticles strongly block infection of the cells by the virus. These ongoing experiments show a huge potential for copper ions in preventing surface-mediated infection with SARS-CoV-2, said the release. Based on these findings, Prof. Angel Porgador fr...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Tags: Design News Source Type: news