Coating with Hypertonic Saline Improves Virus Protection of Filtering Facepiece Manyfold-Benefit of Salt Impregnation in Times of Pandemic.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 18(14)2021 Jul 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1308347
ABSTRACT
Recently, as is evident with the COVID-19 pandemic, virus-containing aerosols can rapidly spread worldwide. As a consequence, filtering facepieces (FFP) are essential tools to protect against airborne viral particles. Incorrect donning and doffing of masks and a lack of hand-hygiene cause contagion by the wearers' own hands. This study aimed to prove that hypertonic saline effectively reduces the infectious viral load on treated masks. Therefore, a hypertonic salt solution´s protective effect on surgical masks was investigated, specifically analyzing the infectivity of aerosolized Alphacoronavirus 1 in pigs (Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV)). Uncoated and hypertonic salt pre-coated FFPs were sprayed with TGEV. After drying, a defined part of the mask was rinsed with the medium, and the eluent was used for the infection of a porcine testicular cell line. Additionally, airborne microorganisms´ long-term infectivity of sodium-chloride in phosphate-buffered saline comprising 5% saccharose was investigated. In the results from an initial Median Tissue Culture Infectious Dose, infection rate of TGEV was minimally reduced by untreated FFP. In contrast, this could be reduced by a factor of 104 if FFPs were treated with hypertonic salt solutions. Airborne pathogens did not contaminate the growth medium if salt concentrations exceeded 5%. We conclude that hypertonic saline is a vital tool for anti-virus protection, exponentially improving the impact of FFPs.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Hand Hygiene
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph18147406
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