Shopping carts and baskets are disinfected after every use to prevent the spread of deadly infections. This takes a lot of time and is rather expensive. However, because of work of scientists from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, disinfection procedures could be much more rare.

Scientists in Hong Kong have developed a Multilevel Antimicrobial Polymer (MAP-1) coating, which is able to inactivate viruses, bacteria and even hard-to-kill spores. In fact, MAP-1 kills viruses that cause measles, mumps, rubella and, of course, COVID-19. The best thing is that this coating lasts for up to 90 days. Scientists tested it in a variety of settings. For example, a privacy curtain in a hospital after three weeks since the coating was applied had 98.7 % fewer bacteria than a curtain that wasn’t sprayed with this chemical.

Team leader Yeung King Lun said: “We ran a seven-months field trial of the coating on privacy partition curtains in a local public hospital and six months study on bed linens in an elderly home, and the results is very encouraging, with the total amount of bacteria reduced by over 99% and 95.8% on the curtains and ben linens respectively”.

MAP-1 is actually several antimicrobial polymers. When applied, this coating disinfects the surface. It also physically prevents microbes from sticking to it later. And once heat (like from you warm hands) or moisture is applied, these polymers release disinfectants that kill microbes. Of course, this coating destroys SARS-CoV-2 too, but it is not even that hard, actually. The good news is that it stays there for a long time, is non-toxic and environmentally-friendly.

One of the areas scientists want to see MAP-1 in use is water and sewage pipes. Those contain a lot of different bacteria and some of them encourage corrosion of these metal pipes. MAP-1 can prevent that from happening. It could also be spun into nanofibers, which can then be woven into surgical masks, hospital sheets, curtains and so on. Because it’s non-toxic, scientists say that MAP-1 could also be used in hand sanitizers, although in that kind of application concentration may be very important.

MAP-1 can be used on a variety of surfaces – metal, fabric, leather, plastic, wood and so on. Many different viruses are killed or inactivated by this coating. In fact, scientists estimate that this new coating effectively kills up to 99.99 % of bacteria and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, Rubella, avian influenza, H1N1 and FCV.

MAP-1 could be a game changer. It would allow protecting various surfaces for a longer time, which could curb the spread of many different diseases.

Source: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology