The battle against the Ebola virus is getting thicker and is not over yet. The avian influenza virus has reappeared in many regions around the world. Moreover, with the arrival of winter, all kinds of cold-loving influenza viruses have become particularly active.
News from the Tianjin Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the main influenza virus currently circulating locally is “Type A3”. Influenza A3 is a type of seasonal influenza. The symptoms often include: rising body temperature, body aches, and obvious fatigue. In Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places, there are also cases of gastrointestinal tract disease that have been diagnosed as infected with norovirus. Although these viruses pose far less threats to humans than Ebola, they are also highly contagious and can easily infect people.
How great it would be if our clothes could prevent and fight viruses. So are there textiles with such functions? If so, how will they help us prevent and fight viruses?
Virus prevention and anti-virus are completely different concepts
Due to the haze weather, masks continue to be popular. The reporter found that some masks are labeled with the words anti-virus and anti-virus. Is this true?
“The concepts of preventing viral infection and anti-virus are completely different.” said Zhu Yiping, associate researcher at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “Protective masks use the principle of physical interception and filtration. That is, a filter material with a certain pore size is used to filter microorganisms that are larger than the pore size. Dust and aerosol particles are filtered and intercepted, thereby preventing pathogenic microorganisms (such as viruses and bacteria, etc.) attached to fine dust and aerosol particles, or other harmful factors from coming into contact with the human body and entering the respiratory tract, thus greatly reducing the risk of people being infected or affected. Risk of harm. At the same time, the intercepted pathogenic microorganisms and other harmful factors are still attached to the mask filter material, which is potentially harmful. Therefore, used masks must be disposed of in accordance with national laws and regulations on medical waste disposal. The concept of anti-virus is to use virus inhibitors to kill or inhibit virus replication. ”
New nanofiber fabric protects against micron-level bacteria and viruses
Are these masks effective against the raging Ebola virus?
According to experts, masks have different functions, and there are various masks with different functions on the market. Only masks with biosafety protection functions that are produced in accordance with international and national standards and pass strict testing can prevent viral infections, including Ebola. The diameter of the Ebola virus is approximately 0.08 microns, or 80 nanometers.
At the 89th World Textile Conference held in Wuhan not long ago, Wang Xungai, chairman of the conference and professor at Deakin University in Australia, introduced the relevant research results of his team. Wang Xungai has been awarded honors such as Chief Tenured Professor of Deakin University in Australia and Academician of the Royal Textile Society of the United Kingdom. He has long been engaged in research in the field of textiles and fibers. Many of his scientific research achievements are world firsts.
Professor Wang said that this is a new type of nanofiber spinning technology that can refine the fiber to less than 100 nanometers, which is smaller than 90% of bacteria and viruses. All micron-level bacteria and viruses can be blocked, including the Ebola virus. No exception.
Textiles can resist viruses because of special materials
Textile anti-virus is through physical filtration, while anti-virus relies on materials.
In recent years, news of using dolomite, nanosilver, green tea extract, etc. to make anti-viral masks has appeared in media reports.
Among them, nanomaterials have a relatively high appearance rate. Take nanosilver as an example. Silver can prevent and treat many diseases. Nanosilver prepared by nanotechnology has stable physical and chemical properties. Existing research has confirmed that it has significant inhibitory effects on human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus and influenza virus.
Researchers at Dalian University School of Medicine have also studied the mechanism of action of nanosilver against influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus.
Preliminary research has confirmed that nanosilver has a significant inhibitory effect on influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus. Its inhibitory mechanism may be related to the destruction of virus particle structure and inhibition of neuraminidase activity by nanosilver.
According to experts, in order to make textiles have anti-viral functions, some processing of the materials must be done.
There are two main methods: one is to make materials with anti-viral functions into nano-scale fine particles, and then blend them with polymer silk-like liquid to imitate silk. The other method uses nano-finishing, in which nano-materials are added to the fabric finishing agent during the finishing process of the fabric, or compounded in the form of a coating, thereby giving the fabric anti-viral function.
Researchers related to anti-viral textiles said that the significance of developing anti-viral textiles is to weaken the spread of viruses and reduce the harm of sudden epidemic viruses.
At present, the anti-viral textile closest to our lives is masks. However, market recognition is not high, and many consumers are skeptical about whether it can really fight viruses.
In August 2014, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) officially released the “Antiviral Textile Testing Standard”. There are two main types of viruses tested, one is influenza virus; the other is feline calicivirus, a substitute for norovirus.��
Some media said that the release of this standard marks the entry of functional textiles into the anti-virus era.
Functional textiles usually refer to textiles with other special functions beyond the warmth, covering and beautification functions of conventional textile products. For example, the common ones include anti-static, non-iron, anti-shrink, anti-moth, waterproof, anti-fouling, anti-wrinkle, anti-pilling, etc., as well as flame retardant, anti-ultraviolet, far-infrared, electromagnetic shielding, antibacterial disinfection and deodorization, anti-radiation, High moisture absorption, etc. Some of these textiles with special functions only have a single function, while others have several composite functions, making them multifunctional or composite functional textiles. The anti-viral function is a new trend in the development of functional textiles.
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