Enveloped and non-enveloped virus survival on microfiber towels.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Handwashing is an important intervention which can reduce indirect disease transmission, however soap and water for handwashing purposes is not available in some low-resource regions. When handwashing with soap and water is not possible, individuals may use alternatives such as the Supertowel (a microfiber towel with an antimicrobial coating). Testing of viral inactivation as a result of antimicrobial treatment on the Supertowel, however, has been limited. The goal of this study is to provide information about the performance of the Supertowel's antimicrobial treatment against viruses, which will help inform the use of the towels as handwashing alternatives.

Methods

We seeded the Supertowel and a regular microfiber towel with two bacteriophages (enveloped Phi6 and

SUBMITTER: Anderson CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10106082 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature