Airborne microorganisms are ubiquitous and are major problem in indoor air quality. Many these microorganisms trigger asthma and allergy, and cause respiratory distress and even toxic shock and death in severe cases. Many hospital-acquired infections (HAI) resulting from respiratory syncytial virus, influenza viruses, rhinoviruses, coronaviruses and tuberculosis are spread through the air. Indeed, airborne droplets rapidly spread coronavirus, resulting in large community outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong during the period of 2002-2003. Evidence also shows that bioaerosol is a key transmission route for the spread of H1N1 influenza virus during the recent global pandemic in 2009.<br/><br/>A new multilevel antimicrobial coating for particulate air filters was developed based on the microencapsulation of volatile and semi-volatile germicides within a hybrid capsule that controls the dosing of the germicides according to environmental cue. The capsule was also formulated to display “contact-killing” and “anti-adhesion” properties to prevent biofilm colonization of the filter elements. Tests were carried out on coated particulate air filters for influenza viruses (i.e., H1N1, H3N2) and enterovirus (EV-71) showing high virucidal activities (&gt; 99 %) at short contact time (1 min). Accelerated ageing experiments were carried out, and the results indicated that the virucidal activity can be maintained over a period of at least 12 months. Air filtration studies showed that the coating does not affect the filtration property, but decreases the viability of T4 bacteriophage used as surrogate for airborne virus.

Virucidal activity of a multilevel antimicrobial air filter

249th National Meeting (2015)

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