RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Far-UVC light: A new tool to control the spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 240408
DO 10.1101/240408
A1 David Welch
A1 Manuela Buonanno
A1 Veljko Grilj
A1 Igor Shuryak
A1 Connor Crickmore
A1 Alan W. Bigelow
A1 Gerhard Randers-Pehrson
A1 Gary W. Johnson
A1 David J. Brenner
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/28/240408.abstract
AB Airborne-mediated microbial diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis represent major public health challenges. A direct approach to prevent airborne transmission is inactivation of airborne pathogens, and the airborne antimicrobial potential of UVC ultraviolet light has long been established; however, its widespread use in public settings is limited because conventional UVC light sources are both carcinogenic and cataractogenic. By contrast, we have previously shown that far-UVC light (207–222 nm) efficiently kills bacteria without harm to exposed mammalian skin. This is because, due to its strong absorbance in biological materials, far-UVC light cannot penetrate even the outer (non living) layers of human skin or eye; however, because bacteria and viruses are of micrometer or smaller dimensions, far-UVC can penetrate and inactivate them. We show for the first time that far-UVC efficiently kills airborne aerosolized viruses, a very low dose of 2 mJ/cm2 of 222-nm light inactivating >95% of aerosolized H1N1 influenza virus. Continuous very low dose-rate far-UVC light in indoor public locations is a promising, safe and inexpensive tool to reduce the spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases.