healthcare
Environmental solutionsnews Covering infection prevention, medical waste management & sustainable practices
VOL. XIV NO.41 XII NO.
www.HealthcareEnvironmentalSolutions.com
spring 2018 WINTER 2016
Study: Far-UVC Light Zaps Airborne Viruses Without Harming Human Tissue
T
he benefits of using ultraviolet light in healthcare applications – killing microbes and bacteria and sterilizing surgical instruments and operating rooms -- has long been known. But the risks posed to people associated with using so-called germicidal UVC light, particularly skin cancer and cataracts, have prevented its widespread use in public spaces. Now, however, researchers have reported that low doses of far ultraviolet light (far-UVC) can not only kill airborne viruses – including the influenza virus that this season has already claimed more than 80 children’s lives nationwide – but do so without harming human tissue. The study, by the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), could have a far ranging impact in battling airborne viruses, including influenza, measles, tuberculosis, chickenpox, smallpox and possibly even anthrax. “I think it does [have huge potential],” said David J. Brenner, the study leader and director of the Center for Radiological Research at CUIMC. “If it only took a bite out of influenza it would be just terrific.”
By P.J. Heller
Installing far-UVC lights in places such as airports, airplanes, schools and medical facilities, could slow seasonal flu epidemics or even a flu pandemic that could spread rapidly from country to country. “Our results indicate that far-UVC light is a powerful and inexpensive approach for prevention and reduction of airborne viral infections without the human health hazards inherent with conventional germicidal UVC lamps,” Brenner
said. “If these results are confirmed in other scenarios, it follows that the use of overhead very low level far-UVC light in public locations may represent a safe and efficient methodology for limiting the transmission and spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases. “Public locations such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, schools, airports and airplanes might be considered here. This approach may help limit seasonal influenza epidemics, transmission of tuberculosis, as well as major pandemics,” he said. Some published reports hailed the study, which has been conducted over the last five years, as a “breakthrough.” Others, including Brenner, himself, were not willing to go that far since the use of UVC at certain wavelengths has long been proven effective for germicidal irradiation. Germicidal UVC peaks around 254 nm, Brenner noted. The far-UVC lamps used in the study had a single wavelength of 222 nm. “I think we were expecting those results. I don’t think we were too surprised,” said Brenner, the Higgins Professor of Radiation
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