In today’s fast-paced world, where the importance of hygiene since the COVID-19 pandemic has been emphasized like never before, disinfectants have taken center stage in our fight against infectious diseases. The role of disinfectants in reducing harmful pathogens is widely known, but have you ever wondered about how clean a surface still is hours after disinfectant was applied? The CDC recommends more frequent disinfection for high-contact surfaces in facilities.[1] In critical facilities like hospitals, studies have shown that even with a program in place for environmental disinfection, many disease-causing microbes are left behind, increasing the chance for a surface acquired. [2] Residual disinfectants are a promising new tool in reducing human error and the manpower required to keep surfaces safe in critical facilities. These unique technologies continue to protect surfaces from re-transmitting a virus or bacteria long after their initial surface treatment, offering an additional layer of defense against potential infections. Today we delve into the fascinating realm of residual disinfectants, exploring what one of our journal publications has to say about our baseline technology’s efficacy (NanoRAD) and potential implications in safeguarding public health.
Understanding Residual Disinfectants
Residual disinfectants, also known as persistent or long-lasting disinfectants, possess the remarkable ability to remain active on surfaces long after the initial application. This property sets them apart from regular disinfectants, which lose their effectiveness once the treated surface dries. NanoRAD is an on-demand residual disinfectant that produces targeted hydrogen peroxide when in the presence of bacteria and viruses. As long as the treated surface has access to water in the air, it stays effective against these pathogens.
Having a residual disinfectant like NanoRAD can be helpful and important in environments where frequent cleaning and disinfection might not be feasible, yet the control of pathogens is critical. The residual nature of these disinfectants provides continuous protection against pathogens for extended periods, making them particularly valuable in high-risk environments like hospitals, clean rooms, and a variety of other spaces.
Journal Publication
Recent studies have been done on the technology that powers NanoRAD, which gives it its residual, on-demand disinfecting attributes. These studies were conducted at the UCF College of Medicine in Orlando, FL. These studies look at the efficacy of these nanoparticles against a variety of pathogens. Today, we will look at one of these studies and what it has to say about the technology, as well as its effectiveness when tested against a variety of clinically relevant virus species.
- Metal-Mediated Nanoscale Cerium Oxide Inactivates Human Coronavirus and Rhinovirus by Surface Disruption[3]
The Problem
The SARS-CoV2 virus, which led to the COVID-19 disease, prompted a large wave of virus-related research. Knowing how viruses interact with treatments, including pharmaceutical treatment, is important to understand how to combat these viruses moving forward. However, as drug resistance and the amount of variance within these types of viruses grows, the specificity of these virus interactions increases, making treating them more difficult and less practical through traditional means.
Viruses are non-living microbes and do not need nutrients to survive, only to stay intact so that they can infect a host cell to replicate. There are two main classes of viruses, those that are “enveloped” whereas others are considered “non-enveloped”, and their kill mechanisms can be different. In an enveloped virus, where a glycoprotein or other surface structure exists, the easiest way to render them non-infective is to break down this outer structure. A non-enveloped virus, however, lacks a lipid membrane and instead has an outer protein coating that protects the virus. To render this non-infective, damage to the protective protein coating on the virus must occur, causing it to be incapable of infecting cells. The basic antimicrobial mechanism needed to prevent infection by a virus is the disruption of the surface proteins that allow the virus to enter and infect a cell. Surface oxidation, which can be achieved with the use of a disinfectant like hydrogen peroxide, achieves the breakdown of these surface proteins on viruses.
The Solution
Because of the persistence of infective viruses on surfaces, solutions other than single-use disinfectants have been presented to combat these viruses, including the use of metal and metal oxide nanomaterials. These nanoparticles, like the ones that power NanoRAD, are comparable to native enzyme behavior and are considered enzyme-mimetic. NanoRAD’s artificial enzyme behavior allows the redox-reactive nanomaterials to create oxygen vacancies which allow them to produce oxidizing species, such as hydrogen peroxide.
When it comes to deactivating viruses, enzyme-mimetic nanomaterials can be engineered to target specific components or processes essential for the virus’s survival and replication. The oxidation properties of these nanoparticles allow them to attack both kinds of viruses, attacking the lipid membrane in the enveloped as well as degrading the structures of the non-enveloped kinds.
The Results
Transition metal-based nanomaterials like NanoRAD “have shown exceptional broad-spectrum antibacterial activity as well as antiviral efficacy”. Figures inside the journal show one formulation of the nanoparticles having strong efficacy against OC43 (enveloped RNA virus), and another having nearly a 5-log reduction against rhinovirus 14 (nonenveloped RNA virus) in 2 hours! In addition to the efficacy, they are “less susceptible to deactivation through physical and chemical conditions when compared to small molecule and biologic agents”.
Conclusion
Our NanoRAD coating and films are unique surface treatments powered by these nanomaterials that have potent efficacy against even severe illness-causing viruses and bacteria. NanoRAD products reduce the impact of human error in disinfection protocols for your facility, reducing the likelihood of surface-acquired infections. A single application of NanoRAD coating has the disinfection power of several dozen gallons of disinfectant over the course of a month, reducing manpower, chemical exposure, and risk within your organization.
[1] When and How to Clean and Disinfect a Facility | Water, Sanitation, and Environmentally Related Hygiene | CDC
[2] Hospital and long-term care facility environmental service workers’ training, skills, activities and effectiveness in cleaning and disinfection: a systematic review – ScienceDirect
[3] Metal-Mediated Nanoscale Cerium Oxide Inactivates Human Coronavirus and Rhinovirus by Surface Disruption | ACS Nano
