Medical Design Briefs - March 2022 - 42

GlobAl
INNOVATIONS
COVID-19: Scientists Develop Method to Disinfect PPE for
Safe Reuse
University of Aukland, Aukland, New Zealand
n response to a global shortages of
PPE, a team of researchers led by Dr.
Yvonne Anderson, a senior lecturer at
the department of paediatrics, University
of Auckland, has successfully developed a
method for disinfecting PPE so it could
be reused or safely recycled.
" Safety of healthcare workers during
the current pandemic is critical to reducing
community transmission of COVID19,
and this requires readily available
PPE, " Anderson says.
" The primary focus of our project was
protecting healthcare workers and other
frontline staff against the SARS-CoV-2
virus (the causative agent of COVID-19).
However, it's paramount that we also
find ways to mitigate the ever-growing
amount of medical waste that goes to
landfills, or worse, that ends up polluting
our lands, rivers, and seas, magnifying
the global problem of plastic pollution. "
Anderson, and collaborator Dr. José
Derraik of the University of Auckland,
pulled together a team from the universities
of Auckland, Otago, Canterbury,
Waterloo (Canada), and New Zealand's
AgResearch to collaborate on the project.
The team tested UV light and dry heat
for disinfecting clinical PPE. Their initial
findings were published in Pathogens.
The study showed that UV disinfection
was not reliable on the irregular surfaces
of PPE, but that dry heat was effective.
They found replication- competent virus
remained on face masks for up to five
weeks at room temperature.
I
The most recent stage of the research
project has been to build and test a prototype
mobile disinfection unit in a shipping
container at the Port of Taranaki.
Port Taranaki Head of Commercial,
Ross Dingle says, " It's great to have helped
Dr. Anderson and those involved in this
innovative project. We're thrilled the project
has been a success. As a border-facing
operation, Port Taranaki has been at the
front line during COVID-19, which has
involved many of our people wearing
PPE each day. This has resulted in large
amounts of PPE being used. "
" It's fantastic that this work has the
potential to reduce the impact of PPE
on the environment, and ensure an
ongoing safe supply of PPE, even in the
event of supply shortages. "
Collaboration has been key. In a
high-security laboratory, University of
Otago researchers led by Prof. Miguel
Quiñones- Mateu performed the tests
on the efficacy of heat and UV methods
against SARS-CoV-2.
Once dry heat was identified as the
best contender, other teams led by Dr.
Daniel Pletzer (University of Otago) and
Dr. Gale Brightwell (AgResearch) tested
the efficacy of heat treatment against
important bacteria that cause disease in
humans, particularly in hospital settings.
Now, the research team is in the final
stages, with help from the University of
Canterbury. Assoc. Prof. Mark Staiger
and the team at the University of
Canterbury have been testing the effects
of heat treatment on PPE materials, to
assess whether disinfection compromises
the required levels of protection in
any way.
" We've managed to achieve a lot with
this project in the last 18 months. How -
ever, there are more questions to be
answered as with any project of this scale.
Healthcare worker acceptability is a key
consideration with any disinfection solution
of PPE. We are committed to prioritizing
their voice in the wider project, "
Anderson says. "
The next steps for the unit is to demobilize
and transfer it to the University of
Auckland Faculty of Engineering.
" That will then be with the team that
are going to work on waste valorization
so that we can actually make sure that
we're reducing our environmental footprint
in health, " she says.
The aim is for unusable PPE waste to be
broken down into water and largely harmless
chemicals using hydrothermal processes.
This work is being conducted by Assoc.
Prof. Saeid Baroutian at the University of
Auckland's Faculty of Engineering, with
input from Prof. Bill Anderson (University
of Waterloo) and Dr. Trudy Sullivan
(University of Otago).
" We aim to close the loop on single-use
PPE by completely deconstructing and
converting unusable PPE waste into safe,
inert, and potentially valuable products.
The combination of disinfection and
hydro thermal valorization is a circular solution, "
Baroutian says.
Scientists have tested disinfecting PPE in a
mobile unit
in a shipping container at Port
Taranaki. (Credit: University of Aukland)
42
Cov
Dry heat was found to successfully kill the COVID19
virus and other pathogens in this door to
mobile unit. (Credit: University of Aukland)
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
ToC
The project received $1.3 million in
funding through the COVID-19 Inno -
vation Accel eration Fund of the Ministry
of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) and a $46,000 grant from the
Medical Assurance Society Foundation.
" Not only have we had the chance to
work alongside healthcare workers to
ensure their safety, but we have had the
opportunity to rethink the reuse of medical
products long term, and how we can
reduce our environmental footprint in
health, " Anderson says.
To roll this solution out would require
investment and resources, she adds.
For more information, visit www.auckland.
ac.nz/en.
Medical Design Briefs, March 2022
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/en http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
Medical Design Briefs - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Medical Design Briefs - March 2022
