Abstract
Effective disinfection technology to combat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can help reduce viral transmission during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic and in the future. UV devices emitting UVC irradiation (200 to 280 nm) have proven to be effective for virus disinfection, but limited information is available for SARS-CoV-2 due to the safety requirements of testing, which is limited to biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratories. In this study, inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in thin-film buffered aqueous solution (pH 7.4) was determined across UVC irradiation wavelengths of 222 to 282 nm from krypton chloride (KrCl∗) excimers, a low-pressure mercury-vapor lamp, and two UVC light-emitting diodes. Our results show that all tested UVC devices can effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2, among which the KrCl∗ excimer had the best disinfection performance (i.e., highest inactivation rate). The inactivation rate constants of SARS-CoV-2 across wavelengths are similar to those for murine hepatitis virus (MHV) from our previous investigation, suggesting that MHV can serve as a reliable surrogate of SARS-CoV-2 with a lower BSL requirement (BSL2) during UV disinfection tests. This study provides fundamental information on UVC's action on SARS-CoV-2 and guidance for achieving reliable disinfection performance with UVC devices.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e01532-21 |
Journal | Applied and environmental microbiology |
Volume | 87 |
Issue number | 22 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- Bacteriophage Phi6
- COVID-19
- Far UVC
- Human coronavirus 229E
- MHV
- Murine hepatitis virus
- Surrogate
- UV disinfection
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biotechnology
- Food Science
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Ecology