Liquid chalk is an antiseptic against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A respiratory viruses

  1. Julie L. McAuley
  2. Joshua M. Deerain
  3. William Hammersla
  4. Turgut E. Aktepe
  5. Damian J.F. Purcell
  6. Jason M. Mackenzie

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and enforced significant restrictions within our societies, including the attendance of the public and professional athletes in gyms. Liquid chalk is a commonly used accessories in gyms and is comprised of magnesium carbonate and alcohol that quickly evaporates on the hands to leave a layer of dry chalk. We investigated whether liquid chalk is an antiseptic against highly pathogenic human viruses including, SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus and noroviruses. Chalk was applied before or after virus inoculum and recovery of infectious virus was determined to mimic the use in the gym. We observed that addition of chalk before or after virus contact lead to a significant reduction on recovery of infectious SARS-CoV-2 and influenza but had little impact on norovirus. These observations suggest that the use and application of liquid chalk can be an effective and suitable antiseptic for major sporting events, such as the Olympic Games.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.02.364661: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Cell culture maintenance and virus stocks: Vero cells (American Type Culture Collection [ATCC]) were maintained in Minimal Essential Media (MEM) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated foetal bovine serum (FBS), 10 μM HEPES, 2 mM glutamine and antibiotics ((100 units/mL Penicillin G, 100 μg/mL
    Vero
    suggested: None
    Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells were grown in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) media supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM glutamine and antibiotics.
    MDCK
    suggested: None
    RAW 264.7 cells were maintained in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) with 10% FBS and 1% GlutaMAX.
    RAW 264.7
    suggested: None
    Cytotoxicity assay 96® Non-Radioactive Cytotoxicity Assay (Promega): Vero, MDCK and RAW cells were plated in a 96-well plate to 80% confluency.
    RAW
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical Analyses: Data is representative of at least 2 independent experiments and was analysed using GraphPad Prism v8.0.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No funding statement was detected.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.11.02.364661 on bioRxiv