Abstract:
The frequent occurrence of various microbial diseases poses a threat to the modern world.
Microbial pathogens consist of a wide variety of bacteria & viruses. These pathogens exist
throughout the globe and affect the health of millions annually. Frontline workers, who are in
first-hand contact with these microbes, work hard to control the disease condition by playing
their role in disease prevention and treatment. This puts these front-line workers at more risk
against these viral and bacterial strains. Air-borne microbes are easily transmitted and are more
difficult to control. Most of the work has been done on disease prevention worldwide and the
treatment mainly includes antibiotics to ensure proper safety against these fatal and harmful
microbes, personal protective equipment (PPEs) are specially designed for these workers to
kill or inactivate these microbes. The study focuses on the testing of the anti-bacterial potential
of e-textiles coated with copper and titanium-based nano-particles and the anti-viral potential
of e-textiles coated with silver nanoparticles. The in-vitro assessment of bioactive fabric,
comprised of different nanoparticle coatings, was done against Gram-positive (S. aureus ATCC
6538), Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli ATCC 8739), and Corona virus. Standard bacterial
agents were tested with ISO 20743 norm and ISO 18184 was used for anti-viral testing. A
sample size of n=9 was assessed based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative
analysis was based on the measurement of zone of inhibition in comparison to gentamycin
standard. The qualitative results were measured as reduction in the CFU number of the bacteria
in terms of decimal logarithm average per milliliter assessed at different time intervals. The
anti-viral results were analyzed using the Spearman-Karber equation and the average reduction
between the log infectivity titer and log reduction titer was calculated which was presented in
terms of percentage reduction. Most copper samples showed excellent results with an average
of 20mm zone of inhibition and more than 90% reduction in CFU number. Titanium samples
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showed ordinary results apart from TOSAC, showing comparable results to copper samples.
The anti-viral load was also reduced by more than 80% in most cases using the silver coated
nano-fabrics. The experiments were run in triplicates and the samples were subjected to testing
both prior and after washing so the integrity of the fabric is also checked. The study provided
intuition about anti-microbial activity of different e-textiles for their use in Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE)
