Sprayable medical device and personal protective equipment coatings with long-term anti-viral activity to fight COVID-19

虽然SARS-CoV-2的飞沫传播是病毒高传染性方面的主要担忧，但病毒在各种表面上令人惊讶的长期传染性也引起了人们对潜在表面传播的担忧。这些担忧在医疗保健环境中尤其严重，特别是在口罩(约7天)以及用于诊断和治疗的金属医疗设备(如听诊器，约4天)上观察到长期的病毒传染性。鉴于加拿大医护人员的高传染性(约占新冠肺炎病例总数的10%)，开发一种基于技术的解决方案，可持续灭活表面的病毒，而无需重复耗时的消毒程序，有望保护医护人员和患者，并安全地解决个人防护装备的缺陷。在这个项目中，麦克马斯特大学的Todd Hoare博士的实验室、领先的医院消毒服务提供商SteriPro Inc.和圣约瑟夫医院汉密尔顿急诊室的质量和安全主管Shawn Mondoux博士之间的合作旨在通过开发可以安全地涂抹在表面并至少在24小时内保持持久抗病毒特性的可喷涂抗感染涂层来应对这一挑战。这项技术建立在霍尔实验室已经建立的功能聚合物的基础上，可以与金属、聚合物和纤维素表面牢固结合，同时促进高效的抗菌活性；像SARS-CoV-2这样的病毒通常更容易被灭活。工作重点将是开发用于钛(听诊器头)、聚丙烯(N95口罩)和纤维素纤维(外科口罩/长袍)的坚固的抗病毒涂层。SteriPro将与医院和政府合作伙伴合作，提供基本的性能测试、监管咨询和验证研究，而Mondoux将在他的急诊室领导一项概念验证研究，以评估真实医疗环境中的涂层性能。虽然应用测试的重点将是解决新冠肺炎的紧迫问题，但涂层的广谱活性最终有望解决多种类型的医院感染(例如，抗药性细菌)。

While droplet transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is the major concern in terms of the high infectivity of the virus, the surprisingly long-term infectivity of viruses on various surfaces also raises concerns about potential surface transmission. These concerns are particularly acute in a healthcare setting, with particularly long-term viral infectivity observed on face masks (~7 days) as well as metal medical devices used for diagnosis and treatment (e.g. stethoscopes, ~4 days). Given the high infectivity rates of healthcare workers across Canada (~10% of total COVID-19 cases), developing a technology-based solution for persistently deactivating viruses on surfaces without the need for repeated time-consuming disinfection procedures is anticipated to protect both healthcare workers and patients as well as safely address deficits in personal protective equipment. In this project, a partnership between Dr. Todd Hoare's lab at McMaster University, SteriPro Inc. (a leading provider of hospital disinfection services), and Dr. Shawn Mondoux (Quality and Safety Lead at the Emergency Room of St. Joseph's Hospital Hamilton) aims to address this challenge by developing sprayable anti-infective coatings that can be safely applied to surfaces and maintain persistent anti-viral properties over at least 24 hours. This technology builds on functional polymers already established in the Hoare lab to strongly bind to metal, polymer, and cellulose-based surfaces while facilitating highly effective anti-bacterial activity; viruses like SARS-CoV-2 are typically easier to deactivate. Work will be focused on developing robust anti-viral coatings for titanium (stethoscope heads), polypropylene (N95 masks), and cellulosic fibres (surgical masks/gowns). SteriPro will provide essential performance testing, regulatory consultation, and validation studies in collaboration with its hospital and government partners, while Mondoux will lead a proof-of-concept study at his ER to assess coating performance in a real healthcare environment. While application testing will be focused on addressing urgent COVID-19 concerns, the broad-spectrum activity of the coatings is ultimately expected to address multiple types of hospital infections (e.g. antibiotic resistant bacteria).