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Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans are two important pathogens in public health due to the infections they cause in immunocompromised patients and with hospital stay, increasing morbimortality rates. Three groups of Cu 2 O, ZnO, and Ag/Cu 2 O nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized physicochemically and confronted to P. aeruginosa and C. albicans to determine their antibacterial effect. Statistical analyses were performed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (p < 0.001). The structures of Cu 2 O, ZnO, and Ag/Cu 2 O nanoparticles were spherical, sized 6 nm, 10 nm, and 50 nm for Ag, Cu 2 , and Zn metals, respectively. Furthermore, a 100% antibacterial and antifungal effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans was observed for Cu 2 O, ZnO, and Ag/Cu 2 O nanoparticles respectively. It is concluded from these findings that the nanoparticles synthesized by biogenic and chemical route had a good size between 6 and 50 nm and that Cu 2 O, ZnO, and Ag/Cu 2 O nanoparticles presented an excellent antibacterial (100% growth inhibition) effect against P. aeruginosa and C. albicans (p < 0.001) compared to the control., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Nanotechnology is being used to fight off infections caused by viruses, and one of the most outstanding nanotechnological uses is the design of protective barriers made of textiles functionalized with antimicrobial agents, with the challenge of combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causal agent of COVID-19. This research is framed within two fundamental aspects: the first one is linked to the proposal of new methods of biogenic synthesis of silver, cuprous oxide, and zinc oxide nanoparticles using organic extracts as reducing agents. The second one is the application of nanomaterials in the impregnation (functionalization) of textiles based on methods called "in situ" (within the synthesis), and "post-synthesis" (after the synthesis), with subsequent evaluation of their effectiveness in reducing the viral load of SARS-CoV-2. The results show that stable, monodisperse nanoparticles with defined geometry can be obtained. Likewise, the "in situ" impregnation method emerges as the best way to adhere nanoparticles. The results of viral load reduction show that 'in situ' textiles with Cu 2 O NP achieved a 99.79% load reduction of the SARS-CoV-2 virus., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This research has developed a piece of sanitizing locker-model equipment for textiles exposed to avian coronavirus, which has been put under the influence of UV light, UV + zinc oxide nanoparticles (phytosynthesized ZnONP), and water + UV, and, in turn, under the influence of the exposure time (60, 120, 180 s). The results linked to the phytosynthesis of ZnONP indicate a novel method of fabricating nanostructured material, nanoparticles with spherical morphology and an average size of 30 nm. The assays were made based on the viral viability of avian coronavirus according to the mortality of SPF embryonated eggs and a Real-Time PCR for viral load estimation. This was a model to evaluate the sanitizing effects against coronaviruses since they share a very similar structure and chemistry with SAR-CoV-2. The influence of the type of textile treatment evidenced the potential effect of the sanitizing UV light, which achieved 100% of embryo viability. The response of the ZnONP + UV nebulization showed a notorious influence of photoactivation according to the exposure time, and the 60-s treatment achieved a decrease of 88.9% in viral viability, compared to 77.8% and 55.6% corresponding to the 120 and 180-s treatments, respectively. Regarding the decrease in viral load between the types of treatments, UV 180 s reduced 98.42% and UV 60 s + ZnONP reduced 99.46%, respectively. The results show the combinatorial effect of UV light and zinc nanoparticles in decreasing the viral viability of avian coronavirus, as a model of other important coronaviruses in public health such as SARS-CoV-2., (© 2023. The Author(s).)