Disinfection of human coronavirus-229E on hospital cotton fabric via multi-cylinder dielectric barrier discharge plasma-generated reactive nitrogen species

초록

Viruses are a substantial burden on human health and the environment. Viruses persist based on the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the materials they infect. Thus, preventing virus-contaminated materials from transmitting viruses is a significant challenge, especially in hospitals. The chemical disinfectants (e.g., NaOCl, ethanol, etc.) used in hospital settings bear numerous drawbacks. In addition, various medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPEs) are not adequately disinfected and reused, causing a shortage of devices and increasing cotton wastage. The persistence/inactivation of a virus depends on the nature of the materials and its interaction with those materials. In this study, we tested nonthermal plasma (NTP), particularly multi-cylinder dielectric barrier discharge (MCDBD) plasma-generated nitric oxide (NOx), and found that it effectively inactivated human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E). Three different modes were used to evaluate the inactivation of HCoV-229E: i) direct plasma gas exposure, ii) plasma-activated water (PAW), and iii) virus-contaminated cotton fabric immersed in PAW. Our experimental results showed that direct plasma gas exposure and PAW decreased the virus titer (3.5-4 TCID50/mL) and diminished the expression of the viral membrane and envelope proteins. We also examined the spike glycoprotein intensity in MRC-5 cells via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and immunofluorescence analyses. The results of this study demonstrated that our MCDBD method can efficiently and cost-effectively disinfect hospital PPEs.

키워드