Abstract
The current emerging COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global impact on every major aspect of our societies. It is known that SARS-Cov-2 can endure harsh environmental conditions for up to 72 h, which may contribute to its rapid spread. Therefore, effective containment strategies, such as sanitizing, are critical. Nanotechnology can represent an alternative to reduce the COVID-19 spread, particularly in critical areas, such as healthcare facilities and public places. Nanotechnology-based products are effective at inhibiting different pathogens, including viruses, regardless of their drug-resistant profile, biological structure, or physiology. Although there are several approved nanotechnology-based antiviral products, this work aims to highlight the use of nanomaterials as sanitizers for the prevention of the spread of mainly SARS-Cov-2. It has been widely demonstrated that nanomaterials are an alternative for sanitizing surfaces to inactivate the virus. Also, antimicrobial nanomaterials can reduce the risk of secondary microbial infections on COVID-19 patients, as they inhibit the bacteria and fungi that can contaminate healthcare-related facilities. Finally, cost-effective, easy-to-synthesize antiviral nanomaterials could reduce the burden of the COVID-19 on challenging environments and in developing countries.
Highlights
Other than a natural disaster of cataclysmic proportions, or an all-out man-made nuclear war, infectious diseases pose the only global threat to human life on Earth
Antiviral nanomaterials are typically smaller than most viral particles, such as the SARS-Cov-2 viral particle, which has an average size of nm most viral particles, such as the SARS-Cov-2 viral particle, which has an average size of 120 nm [1]
Review how nanotechnology-based formulations improve research of nanomaterials, from preclinical research to clinical assays and commercialization, for the the activity of antiviral drugs, describing the advantages provided by different nanomaterials [52]; treatment of viral infections [53]
Summary
Other than a natural disaster of cataclysmic proportions, or an all-out man-made nuclear war, infectious diseases pose the only global threat to human life on Earth. The newest epidemics caused by a virus such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, and H1N1 since the beginning of the century have raised the awareness of the major threat that viral diseases still pose to humanity as a whole. These preoccupations were often short-lived and fast forgotten once the resulting epidemics were seemingly under control, which left us completely unprepared despite our conviction and anticipation that it was only a matter of time for the epidemic or pandemic to come. Challenges 2020, 11, 15 too much longer, and as of early 2020, humanity is confronting a pandemic in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease, abbreviated as COVID-19
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