Zinc-embedded fabrics inactivate SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus

  1. Vikram Gopal
  2. Benjamin E. Nilsson-Payant
  3. Hollie French
  4. Jurre Y. Siegers
  5. Wai-shing Yung
  6. Matthew Hardwick
  7. Aartjan J.W. te Velthuis

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Abstract

Infections with respiratory viruses can spread via liquid droplets and aerosols, and cause diseases such as influenza and COVID-19. Face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) can act as barriers that prevent the spread of respiratory droplets containing these viruses. However, influenza A viruses and coronaviruses are stable for hours on various materials, which makes frequent and correct disposal of these PPE important. Metal ions embedded into PPE may inactivate respiratory viruses, but confounding factors such as absorption of viruses make measuring and optimizing the inactivation characteristics difficult. Here we used polyamide 6.6 (PA66) fibers that had zinc ions embedded during the polymerisation process and systematically investigated if these fibers can absorb and inactivate pandemic SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus H1N1. We find that these viruses are readily absorbed by PA66 fabrics and inactivated by zinc ions embedded into this fabric. The inactivation rate (pfu·gram −1 ·min −1 ) exceeds the number of active virus particles expelled by a cough and supports a wide range of viral loads. Moreover, we found that the zinc content and the virus inactivating property of the fabric remain stable over 50 standardized washes. Overall, these results provide new insight into the development of “pathogen-free” PPE and better protection against RNA virus spread.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.02.365833: (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

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Western blot was performed using antibodies directed against IAV HA (Invitrogen, PA5-34929) and NP (GeneTex, GTX125989) and SARS-CoV-2 S (Abcam ab272504) and N (GeneTex, GTX632269).
    PA5-34929
    suggested: (Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# PA5-34929, RRID:AB_2552278)
    NP
    suggested: (GeneTex Cat# GTX125989, RRID:AB_11168364)
    GTX632269
    suggested: (GeneTex Cat# GTX632269, RRID:AB_2888304)
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Influenza viruses and cells: MDCK cells were originally sources from ATCC.
    MDCK
    suggested: CLS Cat# 602280/p823_MDCK_(NBL-2, RRID:CVCL_0422)
    Coronaviruses and cells: SARS-CoV-2 (Bavpat-1 and USA-WA1/2020) were grown on African Green Monkey kidney epithelial Vero-E6 cells in Dulbecco’s Minimal Essential Medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% FBS.
    Vero-E6
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data was analysed in Graphpad Prism 8 using one-way ANOVA with multiple corrections.
    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 found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).

    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.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • 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 10.1101/2020.11.02.365833 on bioRxiv