Abstract:
Currently, the world faces a dire condition due to the wide spread of microbial diseases. Frontline workers try their best to overcome the disease condition by paying their role. At the same time, they have direct exposure to microbes. Most of the work has been done on disease prevention worldwide and the treatment mainly includes antibiotics. But every treatment strategy did never concern the safety of healthcare providers, and in this regard, very little work has been done. There is a need to improve current strategies for personal protection. In this context, developing nanoparticle coated fabric for its utilization as personal protective equipment is a revolutionary step. The in-vitro assessment of bioactive fabric, comprised of different nanoparticle coatings, was done against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (S. aureus and E. coli), Aspergillus niger fungus and Dengue virus. A sample size of n=84 was assessed based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. For qualitative measurement, a zone of inhibition was determined. For quantitative analysis, the percent reduction in the bacteria Colony Forming Units (CFU) was measured in decimal logarithm average per millilitre at different time intervals, including contact with the fabric at 0 hours and after 24 hours of incubation with the fabric. For antiviral activity, log infectivity titre and log reduction were determined from Behrens and Karber method. A concentration of 10-20ul for fungal suspension and 50-100ul of bacterial inoculum was used after optimization for promising results of bioactive fabric. Most of the samples had shown comparable results. CCPE, Ag, Cu, Fe, and ZnO based nano-coated fabrics had shown promising results against S. aureus. E. coli and A. niger with > 90% reduction. Silver, ZF, TF, and CCPE-A based nanocoated fabrics have the highest value of antiviral activity against the dengue virus with >80% reduction. This study has provided insight into the antimicrobial properties of different kind of nano-coated fabrics for their utilization as Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
