Study: New surgical mask traps, kills viruses

Editor's Note

A University of Alberta engineering professor and colleagues have invented a surgical mask that traps and kills viruses by applying a salt formulation to the mask’s filter fibers, the January 5 ScienceDaily reports.

When an aerosol droplet carrying a virus contacts the treated fibers, the droplet absorbs the salt. As the droplet evaporates, the virus suffers fatal physical damage when the salt returns to its crystallized state.

The lead investigator, Professor Hyo-Jick Choi, has been awarded a provisional patent for the development of virus deactivation systems based on the salt-crystallization mechanism.

The surgical masks people wear to stop the spread of diseases don't work well -- that isn't what they're designed for. Pathogens like influenza are transmitted in aerosol droplets when we cough or sneeze. Masks trap the droplets but the virus remains infectious. Scientists took on the challenge of improving the masks, using salt to turn them into virus killers.