Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is demanding the rapid action of the authorities and scientific community in order to find new antimicrobial solutions that could inactivate the pathogen SARS-CoV-2 that causes this disease. Gram-positive bacteria contribute to severe pneumonia associated with COVID-19, and their resistance to antibiotics is exponentially increasing. In this regard, non-woven fabrics are currently used for the fabrication of infection prevention clothing such as face masks, caps, scrubs, shirts, trousers, disposable gowns, overalls, hoods, aprons and shoe covers as protective tools against viral and bacterial infections. However, these non-woven fabrics are made of materials that do not exhibit intrinsic antimicrobial activity. Thus, we have here developed non-woven fabrics with antimicrobial coatings of cranberry extracts capable of inactivating enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and the bacteriophage phi 6 (about 99% of viral inactivation in 1 min of viral contact), and two multidrug-resistant bacteria: the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis. The morphology, thermal and mechanical properties of the produced filters were characterized by optical and electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The non-toxicity of these advanced technologies was ensured using a Caenorhabditis elegans in vivo model. These results open up a new prevention path using natural and biodegradable compounds for the fabrication of infection prevention clothing in the current COVID-19 pandemic and microbial resistant era.
Highlights
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the third human coronavirus [1,2,3,4] that is much more contagious than SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
influenza virus (IFV) is a negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the Baltimore group V [16]. It is enveloped like herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2. Since it seems that the PACs present in cranberry extracts effectively interact with the envelope glycoproteins achieving viral inhibition, we hypothesize here that a commercial non-woven fabric treated with two different commercial extracts produced with different cranberries will show antiviral activity against the enveloped SARS-CoV-2 and bacteriophage phi 6
Since the PACs present in cranberry extracts are well-known for their antibacterial properties against Gram-negative Escherichia coli [40] and antifungal activity against Candida albicans [41], we hypothesize here that the two non-woven fabrics dip-coated with cranberry extracts will show antibacterial activity against two Gram-positive multidrug-resistant bacteria, the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE)
Summary
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the third human coronavirus [1,2,3,4] that is much more contagious than SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly pathogenic enveloped positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus [13,14,15] that belongs to the Baltimore group IV [16] This global life-threatening situation needs the development of new antimicrobial approaches that could treat or prevent COVID-19 infections [17,18,19,20,21,22]. It is enveloped like HSV-1 and HSV-2 Since it seems that the PACs present in cranberry extracts effectively interact with the envelope glycoproteins achieving viral inhibition, we hypothesize here that a commercial non-woven fabric treated with two different commercial extracts produced with different cranberries will show antiviral activity against the enveloped SARS-CoV-2 and bacteriophage phi 6. These advanced fabrics will be characterized by optical and electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and their toxicological aspects will be analyzed using a Caenorhabditis elegans in vivo model
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