SARS is believed to be spread through close contact, such as coughing, sneezing or contact with faeces of patients. It can also be transmitted when people touch surfaces contaminated with the virus.
According to the World Health Organisation, over 8,000 people came down with SARS in the 2003 global outbreak and 774 died from the illness. The use of antibacterial material can help to control the spread of infectious diseases.
In laboratory tests, the nickel-alloy coating developed by Kobe Steel reduced the growth of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV, or mouse coronavirus), which is a close relative of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus (CoV). Both MHV and SARS CoV are in the same group of coronaviruses.
In addition, experiments were conducted to examine the effectiveness of the nickel-alloy coating on stainless steel. Plastic and stainless steel were used as the control.
Other experiments examined the effect of room temperature on incubation time. In both cases, the study demonstrated that the nickel-alloy coating decreased the growth of MHV.
The findings are sure to have implications in the medical and healthcare fields, where the new coating could be applied to door handles and in bacteria incubators, adding to the safety of laboratories, clean rooms and food production sites.
"MHV and SARS CoV are similar to each other in size, structure, replication, mode of transmission, and other properties that we believe the nickel-alloy coating will work on controlling SARS," said Hirano.
"The study results of the nickel-alloy coating on MHV is further evidence of its effectiveness to control infectious diseases," he added.
The antimicrobial sector continues to spill out new materials that can brought into the lab in order to fight contamination. Smith & Nephew for example is marketing an antimicrobial dressing covered with nanocrystalline silver.
The company claims that the nanocrystalline coating of silver rapidly kills a broad spectrum of bacteria in as little as 30 minutes.