Woo Myung-Heui, Grippin Adam, Wu Chang-Yu, Baney Ronald H
Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116450, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, FL, USA.
J Aerosol Sci. 2012 Apr;46:77-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2011.09.006. Epub 2011 Oct 8.
In the event of a pandemic, the general public would use filters as protective devices. However, most commercial filters only remove airborne viruses physically without inactivating them, allowing reproduction on the surface and yielding the mask as a fomite. The objective of this study was to investigate the inactivation performance of dialdehyde starch (DAS) treated filters against airborne viruses. The viable removal efficiency by and relative survivability on the biocidal filters prepared with dialdehyde starch compared to untreated filters were investigated using MS2 bacteriophage at high relative humidity (80-90%) and room temperature. Experimental results showed no significant difference in viable removal efficiency and pressure drop between the treated and untreated filters for polypropylene filtering facepiece respirators. The pressure drop of DAS treated cellulose filters significantly decreased although there was no significant change in viable removal efficiency; the combination of these two factors resulted in an increase of filter quality. All biocidal filters showed a significantly lower relative survivability than untreated filters, and the relative survivability decreased as the concentration of DAS increased. The biocidal filter treated with 4% DAS presented an average of 30% survivability compared to the baseline of untreated filters. The results demonstrate that dialdehyde starch can be incorporated onto filters to provide an effective means for inactivating MS2 viruses through surface contact.
在大流行期间，公众会使用过滤器作为防护设备。然而，大多数商用过滤器仅能物理去除空气中的病毒，却无法使其失活，从而使病毒在其表面繁殖，导致口罩成为污染物。本研究的目的是调查经二醛淀粉（DAS）处理的过滤器对空气传播病毒的灭活性能。使用MS2噬菌体在高相对湿度（80 - 90%）和室温条件下，研究了与未处理过滤器相比，用二醛淀粉制备的杀菌过滤器的活菌去除效率及其相对存活率。实验结果表明，对于聚丙烯过滤面罩呼吸器，处理过的和未处理的过滤器在活菌去除效率和压降方面没有显著差异。虽然DAS处理的纤维素过滤器的活菌去除效率没有显著变化，但其压降显著降低；这两个因素的综合作用导致了过滤器质量的提高。所有杀菌过滤器的相对存活率均显著低于未处理的过滤器，且相对存活率随着DAS浓度的增加而降低。与未处理过滤器的基线相比，用4% DAS处理的杀菌过滤器的平均存活率为30%。结果表明，二醛淀粉可以掺入过滤器中，通过表面接触提供一种有效灭活MS2病毒的方法。
