Five probable Philly H1N1 cases
Cameron Birch
Issue date: 5/8/09 Section: News
As America and the Centers for Disease Control work to prepare and protect people from the H1N1 virus or "Swine Flu," Yury Gogotsi, materials engineer and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, along with Amerinova, LLC, is developing protective masks that will more effectively protect both healthcare workers and the public from disease.
Gogotsi and his team took the "simplest approach" to the masks' design. Thin nanotubes, 300 times smaller than the diameter of human hair, were used to form the protective fabric. One of the problems of larger fibers was the failure to only provide protection in thicker, less breathable layers.
In conjunction with the protective, nanoscale mesh, the masks have chemicals to kill viruses and bacteria once the germs are trapped.
Gogotsi said, "[These chemicals] must be absolutely safe."
Both the fibers and chemicals are breathable and should not cause harm to humans.
In a press release, Barry Ritz, assistant professor biology at Drexel and member of the project, said, "Our preliminary results show that these nanoparticles, when exposed to UV light, reduce the amount of time the flu virus can survive on the masks. Thus, the nanofiber masks kill flu virus more rapidly than the non-coated control masks."
It is only a coincidence, however, that this project is reaching its final steps before production during the flu outbreak. Work first started after the anthrax scare, several years ago.
"We can potentially develop better protection material… that can help protect people," Gogotsi said.
A better material that can protect people from what Gogotsi called either a bioterrorism threat or "ever-existent" threat of a new type of flu that would endanger the population.
"We have to expect a flu pandemic sooner or later [after SARS and the avian flu]," Gogotsi said.
Ritz has also worked on research at the University that has investigated the human immune response to newer, genetically different flu viruses. He has also studied how nutritional interventions relate to treatment and prevention of the flu.
Gogotsi and his team took the "simplest approach" to the masks' design. Thin nanotubes, 300 times smaller than the diameter of human hair, were used to form the protective fabric. One of the problems of larger fibers was the failure to only provide protection in thicker, less breathable layers.
In conjunction with the protective, nanoscale mesh, the masks have chemicals to kill viruses and bacteria once the germs are trapped.
Gogotsi said, "[These chemicals] must be absolutely safe."
Both the fibers and chemicals are breathable and should not cause harm to humans.
In a press release, Barry Ritz, assistant professor biology at Drexel and member of the project, said, "Our preliminary results show that these nanoparticles, when exposed to UV light, reduce the amount of time the flu virus can survive on the masks. Thus, the nanofiber masks kill flu virus more rapidly than the non-coated control masks."
It is only a coincidence, however, that this project is reaching its final steps before production during the flu outbreak. Work first started after the anthrax scare, several years ago.
"We can potentially develop better protection material… that can help protect people," Gogotsi said.
A better material that can protect people from what Gogotsi called either a bioterrorism threat or "ever-existent" threat of a new type of flu that would endanger the population.
"We have to expect a flu pandemic sooner or later [after SARS and the avian flu]," Gogotsi said.
Ritz has also worked on research at the University that has investigated the human immune response to newer, genetically different flu viruses. He has also studied how nutritional interventions relate to treatment and prevention of the flu.
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