Egyptian Researchers Develop Nanoparticles That Can Fight COVID-19

Vaccines and medicine may be key to stopping the spread of COVID-19, but the impact of disinfectants that prevent the virus from reaching the body in the first place cannot be understated. Scientists have been developing nanoparticles  and nanocomposites - which is a solid material with multiple stages, kind of like a gel - to find new ways to protect people from the pandemic. According to an article in the latest issue of the international Journal of Biomedical Science and Research, Egyptian researchers Hisham Yehia and Said Mahmoud may have developed one such method to take the fight out of COVID-19.

Working under the Department of biotechnology at HST Company, the researchers have studied the effects of a nanocomposite called 'NA2SIO3/Sio2/Tio2' (which can't get a cutesy nickname soon enough because wow imagine saying that three times fast) on cells that were mixed with COVID-19. When exposed to activated NA2SIO3/Sio2/Tio2 in liquid form for 30 minutes, the study found a 98.2% reduction in viral load at 0 cm distance, with the antiviral impact declining gradually to 70% at 10 cm and 11.7% at 50 cm.

These results represent a new hope for another tool to use against the pandemic. Created from natural materials found in Egypt such as silica sand using thermal fusion and nanotechnology, NA2SIO3/Sio2/Tio2 is thought to be applicable on fabrics or used as nanofibres in head coverings, shoes or respirators, or on surface coatings, in order to create a protective barrier between the human body and COVID-19. The discovery was only recently registered in the patent office at the Academy of Scientific Research associated with Egypt's Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research, so any practical products in the market is not likely in the near-future - but we've got our fingers crossed that it will lead to a brighter path away from the pandemic.