A Novel Antiviral Filter for Face Masks

目前NHS和社会护理中的医疗保健专业人员使用的口罩并不是专门用于抗病毒的。更糟糕的是，普通公众经常使用的简单布和纸一次性口罩几乎没有保护作用，甚至可能成为捕获和保留含有病毒的飞沫的水库。在我们面临COVID-19大流行的前所未有的时代，为医疗保健的一线工作人员提供最好的保护至关重要。Spheritech开发了一种多孔水凝胶，最初设计用于伤口愈合和组织修复，具有内置的抗菌性能。这可以容易地以用于面罩的多孔过滤器的形式制备。多孔水凝胶被证明对细菌和真菌有效，但它不含任何抗病毒成分。众所周知，十二烷基硫酸钠和十二烷基硫酸钠具有抗病毒作用，是洗手皂的抗病毒成分。我们的愿景是将十二烷基硫酸盐和/或十二烷基硫酸盐加入到我们的多孔水凝胶中，以增加抗病毒性能，帮助对抗当前的冠状病毒大流行和未来的病毒流行。Spheritech已获得大型知名公司的支持信，用于大规模生产这种新型多孔过滤器，并获得已经为NHS提供口罩的口罩制造公司的支持。制造工艺简单，可快速放大。过滤器的原料是食品防腐剂、聚赖氨酸和脂肪酸辛二酸，使用多孔水凝胶的一个独特优点是它能够吸收携带和传播病毒的大量水滴。该项目的扩展将使我们能够在-并向工业合作伙伴提供数千个口罩。

Face masks currently in use by healthcare professionals in the NHS and in social care were not designed to be specifically antiviral. Even worse, the simple cloth and paper disposable masks often used by the general public offer little protection and may even be reservoirs to catch and retain droplets containing viruses. In these unprecedented times when we are faced with the COVID-19 pandemic it is essential that the front-line staff in healthcare are provided with the best possible protection.Spheritech has developed a porous hydrogel, originally designed for wound healing and tissue repair that has in-built antimicrobial properties. This can readily be prepared in the form of a porous filter for face masks. The porous hydrogel is proven to be effective against bacteria and fungi but it does not contain any antiviral components. Sodium dodecyl sulphate and sodium lauryl sulphate are well known to be antiviral and are the antiviral components of hand soaps. Our vision is to incorporate dodecyl sulphate and/or lauryl sulphate into our porous hydrogel to add antiviral properties to help combat the current coronavirus pandemic and future viral epidemics.Spheritech has letters of support from large established company for the large scale manufacture of this novel porous filter and support from a mask manufacturing company who already supply the NHS with masks. The process for manufacture is simple and can be scaled rapidly. The raw materials for the filters are a food preservative, poly-epsilon-lysine and the fatty acid suberic acid, both of which are manufactured on a multi-tonne scale.A unique advantage of using a porous hydrogel is its ability to absorb large amounts of aqueous droplets where the viruses are carried and transmitted.Extension f this project will allow us to move into manufacture of face masks and filters in-house and supply many thousands of masks to industrial partners.