Far-UVC light (222 nm) efficiently and safely inactivates airborne human coronaviruses

A direct approach to limit airborne viral transmissions is to inactivate them within a short time of their production. Germicidal ultraviolet light, typically at 254 nm, is effective in this context but, used directly, can be a health hazard to skin and eyes. By contrast, far-UVC light (207–222 nm)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 10285 - 8
Main Authors: Buonanno, Manuela, Welch, David, Shuryak, Igor, Brenner, David J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.06.2020
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
631/326
631/326/2522
631/326/596/4130
Antiviral Agents - adverse effects
Betacoronavirus - radiation effects
Cell Line
Coronaviridae
Coronavirus 229E, Human - radiation effects
Coronavirus Infections - radiotherapy
Coronavirus OC43, Human - radiation effects
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disinfection - methods
Health hazards
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Inactivation
Influenza
multidisciplinary
Pandemics
Particulate Matter - radiation effects
Pneumonia, Viral - radiotherapy
SARS Virus - radiation effects
SARS-CoV-2
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Ultraviolet radiation
Ultraviolet Rays - adverse effects
Virus Inactivation - radiation effects
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:A direct approach to limit airborne viral transmissions is to inactivate them within a short time of their production. Germicidal ultraviolet light, typically at 254 nm, is effective in this context but, used directly, can be a health hazard to skin and eyes. By contrast, far-UVC light (207–222 nm) efficiently kills pathogens potentially without harm to exposed human tissues. We previously demonstrated that 222-nm far-UVC light efficiently kills airborne influenza virus and we extend those studies to explore far-UVC efficacy against airborne human coronaviruses alpha HCoV-229E and beta HCoV-OC43. Low doses of 1.7 and 1.2 mJ/cm 2 inactivated 99.9% of aerosolized coronavirus 229E and OC43, respectively. As all human coronaviruses have similar genomic sizes, far-UVC light would be expected to show similar inactivation efficiency against other human coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. Based on the beta-HCoV-OC43 results, continuous far-UVC exposure in occupied public locations at the current regulatory exposure limit (~3 mJ/cm 2 /hour) would result in ~90% viral inactivation in ~8 minutes, 95% in ~11 minutes, 99% in ~16 minutes and 99.9% inactivation in ~25 minutes. Thus while staying within current regulatory dose limits, low-dose-rate far-UVC exposure can potentially safely provide a major reduction in the ambient level of airborne coronaviruses in occupied public locations.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-67211-2