Abstract
The interaction of phages with abiotic environmental surfaces is usually an understudied field of phage ecology. In this study, we investigated the virucidal potential of different metal salts, metal and ceramic powders doped with Ag and Cu ions, and newly fabricated ceramic and metal surfaces against Phi6 bacteriophage. The new materials were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and/or selective laser melting (SLM) techniques and had different surface free energies and infiltration features. We show that inactivation of Phi6 in solutions with Ag and Cu ions can be as effective as inactivation by pH, temperature, or UV. Adding powder to Ag and Cu ion solutions decreased their virucidal effect. The newly fabricated ceramic and metal surfaces showed very good virucidal activity. In particular, 45%TiO2 + 5%Ag + 45%ZrO2 + 5%Cu, in addition to virus adhesion, showed virucidal and infiltration properties. The results indicate that more than 99.99% of viruses deposited on the new ceramic surface were inactivated or irreversibly attached to it.
Highlights
We investigated the virucidal potential of different metal salts (AgNO3, FeSO4, Al2 (SO4 )3, NiCl2, K2 Cr2 O7, CuSO4 ), powders of titanium and zirconium oxides doped with Ag and Cu (TiO2 –ZrO2 –Ag–Cu, TiO2 –Ag–Cu), and ceramic and metal surfaces (TiO2 + 10%Ag + 10%Cu, 45%TiO2 + 5%Ag + 45%ZrO2 + 5%Cu, steel, Co28Cr6Mo)
The results showed that phage titers can significantly decrease already after 15 min of treatment with different metal salt solutions, ceramic powders, or fabricated surfaces
We examined the resistance of phage Phi6 to various physicochemical parameters, metal salts, ceramic powders, as well as composite ceramic and metal surfaces fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and/or selective laser melting (SLM) technology
Summary
Viruses can spread and contaminate surfaces by aerosols and droplets. The lack of effective virucidal strategies can often be due to a poor understanding of virus stability on different surfaces. We used the model Phi bacteriophage and checked its infectivity in contact with metal ions, metal and ceramic powders, as well as on different engineered surfaces. Phi virus has been extensively used as a surrogate for the study of enveloped RNA animal viruses [1,2,3,4,5], including SARS coronaviruses [6,7]. Similar to SARS-CoV-2, it is enveloped by a lipid membrane, has spike proteins, and is of similar size (80–100 nm) [8,9,10,11,12]
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