ANTI-PROTOZOAL ACTION OF PLAIN NANOFIBER AND COMPOSITE ZINC OXIDE NANOFIBER MEMBRANES AGAINST CYCLOSPORA CAYETANENSIS IN POLLUTED DRINKING WATER SAMPLES.

Gaafar, Maha Reda; Mady, Rasha Fadly; Shalaby, Thanaa Ibrahim Ahmed; Hezema, Nehal L Nassef Ismai; Korayem, Sherifa Mohamed Shaban

doi:10.21608/alexpo.2024.327055.1966

ANTI-PROTOZOAL ACTION OF PLAIN NANOFIBER AND COMPOSITE ZINC OXIDE NANOFIBER MEMBRANES AGAINST CYCLOSPORA CAYETANENSIS IN POLLUTED DRINKING WATER SAMPLES.

Document Type : Preliminary preprint short reports of original research

Authors

¹ Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University

² Department of Medical Biophysics and biomedics Faculty of Medicine Medical Research Institute

10.21608/alexpo.2024.327055.1966

Abstract

All biological processes on earth are purely dependent on it. However, water plays a major role in transmittingmany pathogenic microorganisms such as protozoa including Cyclospora. Accordingly, drinking water should be well-treated. One of the highly efficient ways for water treatment is nanofiltration technique which depends on the use of membrane containing nanopores for filtering water from variable size pollutants.Furthermore, coating of these membranes with Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) has improvedits filtration power.
Aim:
Our study aims at evaluating the efficacy of nanofiber composite membranes coated with ZnO NPs in filtrating polluted drinking water and studying its antiprotozoal action against C. cayetanensis.
Patients and methods:
One hundred different drinking tap water samples were collected. Water samples were stained using Safranin stain. Nanofibers were prepared using electrospinning. After filtration of water samples further staining was done to confirm absence of any protozoa in the filtered water, with scanning of the trapped protozoa on the nanofilters using SEM to demonstrate structural changes.

Keywords