This New Air Filter Could Make Public Transit Safe From COVID Again
We might now have another tool at our disposal to stop the spread of COVID-19 in close-quarter environments that lack decent ventilation. UK researchers at the University of Birmingham created a novel virus-killing filter by coating it in a widely used antiseptic called chlorhexidine gluconate (CHDG). This filter, unveiled in a new study published Wednesday in the journal Scientific Reports, was shown to be effective at killing COVID-19 virus particles in less than a minute, as well as other kinds of airborne bacteria and fungi harmful to humans. It may play a valuable role not just in helping us further manage the spread of COVID as the pandemic moves into being an endemic part of life, but also other airborne infections old and new alike.
CHDG first debuted in the 1950s as a byproduct of antimalarial drug development following WWII. Since then, it’s been used in antiseptic mouthwashes to treat gum disease and as a broad-spectrum disinfectant. During the pandemic, it’s shown promise in killing the COVID-19 virus when used as an oral rinse and nasal spray. But this is the first time scientists have repurposed CHDG as a tool to control airborne contagions outside the body.
In the new study, the Birmingham researchers ran one-hour-long lab tests to compare the efficacy of the CHDG-laden filters against plain old regular filters in stopping the spread of airborne COVID. Within 60 seconds, mammalian cells infected with COVID-19 were wiped out on the modified filter, but lingered on the untreated filters indefinitely. The researchers observed the same effects when running these tests on bacteria like E. coli, and fungi known to give yeast infection.
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