Korea announces strategic plan against emerging infectious diseases

The Korean Government has announced the medium- and long-term strategic plan against emerging infectious diseases. Under the strategic plan, the government has developed 24 projects in five major areas: surveillance and prevention, preparedness and response, recovery, infrastructure expansion, and research and development.

There are plans to strengthen event-based surveillance by taking advantage of diverse channels for information collection as well as the WHO’s Epidemic Intelligence Open Sources (EIOS), to earlier detect infectious diseases circulating overseas.

The government will also establish a comprehensive intelligence platform for infectious diseases to earlier alert a possible wave of infections. Further, the government will secure an estimated 3,500 hospital beds designated to critically-ill patients that can be made ready for use within one week. Emergency mobilisation system will be set up under which human resources are mobilizsd at each stage of an infectious disease emergency.

The government will also establish an R&D system of securing vaccines and therapeutics within a short period of 100 or 200 days of a pandemic outbreak.

 

Scientists Create New Antimicrobial Coating That Can Kill Many Bacteria and Even the COVID-19 Virus

Researchers have used a common disinfectant and antiseptic to create a new antimicrobial coating material that effectively kills bacteria and viruses, including MRSA and COVID-19.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy took chlorhexidine, often used by dentists to treat mouth infections and for pre-surgical cleaning, and used it to coat the polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).

The new study, published in the journal Nano Select, shows that this new material was found to be effective in killing the microbes responsible for a range of infections and illnesses and could be used as an effective antimicrobial coating on a range of plastic products.

Plastics are widely used in medical settings, from intravenous bags and implantable devices to hospital beds and toilet seats.

Some microbial species can survive in a hospital setting despite enhanced cleaning regimes, leading to an increased risk of patients getting infections whilst in the hospital, which then need antibiotic treatment.

These microorganisms can survive and remain infectious on abiotic surfaces, including plastic surfaces, for extended periods, sometimes up to several months.

“As plastic is such a widely used material that we know can harbour infectious microorganisms, we wanted to investigate a way to use this material to destroy the bacteria. We achieved this by bonding a disinfectant with the polymer to create a new coating material and discovered not only does it act very quickly, killing bacteria within 30 minutes, but it also doesn’t spread into the environment or leach from the surface when touched,” said Dr Felicity de Cogan, Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutical Science of Biological Medicines.

“Making plastic items using this material could really help tackle the issue of antibiotic resistance and reduce hospital-acquired infections,” de Cogan added.

The researchers used a special imaging technique called Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) to examine the material at the molecular level. This revealed the material was antimicrobial and rapidly killed microbes, and after 45 minutes, the surfaces were still clear of these microbes.

It was also effective against SARS-CoV-2, with no viable virions found after 30 minutes. Additionally, the surfaces were also effective in killing chlorhexidine-resistant strains of bacteria.

The COVID pandemic has drawn increased attention to hospital-acquired infections, as it has been estimated that 20% of all patients hospitalised with COVID contracted the Virus while already in hospital.

The most common pathogens that cause hospital-acquired infections are Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium difficile. Outbreaks of infection in the clinic are frequently caused by strains resistant to antimicrobial drugs.