TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of UV-C radiation efficiency in the decontamination of inanimate surfaces and personal protective equipment contaminated with phage φ6
AU - Bartolomeu, Maria
AU - Braz, Márcia
AU - Costa, Pedro
AU - Duarte, João
AU - Pereira, Carla
AU - Almeida, Adelaide
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: We acknowledge financial support to CESAM by FCT/MCTES (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/ 50017/2020+ LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: Thanks are also due to the Department of Biology and University of Aveiro where this research was carried out. The authors are also grateful to CESAM and its funding sources. Maria Bartolomeu, Pedro Costa, Márcia Braz, and João Duarte thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/121645/2016, PD/BD/150360/2019; 2020.06571.BD, and 2021.05519.BD, respectively). Carla Pereira acknowledges the FCT for Junior Research contract (CEEC Individual/03974/2017). We thank Angélica Lopes for the graphical design of the UV-C light disinfection systems.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - To help halt the global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), appropriate disinfection techniques are required. Over the last years, the interest in Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) radiation as a method to disinfect inanimate surfaces and personal protective equipment (PPE) has increased, mainly to efficiently disinfect and prevent SARS-CoV-2 from spreading and allow for the safe reuse of said equipment. The bacteriophage φ6 (or simply phage φ6) is an RNA virus with a phospholipid envelope and is commonly used in environmental studies as a surrogate for human RNA-enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The present study investigated the use of two new UV irradiation systems ((2)2.4W and (8)5.5W)) constituted by conventional mercury UV-C lamps with a strong emission peak at ~254 nm to potentially inactivate phage φ6 on different surfaces (glass, plastic, stainless steel, and wood) and personal protective equipment, PPE, (surgical and filtering facepiece 2, FFP2, masks, a clear acetate visor, and disposable protective clothing). The results showed that both UV-C systems were effective in inactivating phage φ6, but the UV-C sterilizing chamber (8)5.5W had the best disinfection performance on the tested surfaces. The inactivation effectiveness is material-dependent on all surfaces, reaching the detection limit of the method at different times (between 60 and 240 s of irradiation). The glass surface needed less time to reduce the virus (30 s) when compared with plastic, stainless, and wood surfaces (60 s). The virus inactivation was more effective in the disposable surgical and FFP2 masks (60 and 120 s, respectively) than in the disposable vest and clear acetate visor (240 s). Overall, this study suggests that UV-C lamps with peak emission at ~254 nm could provide rapid, efficient, and sustainable sanitization procedures to different materials and surfaces. However, dosage and irradiation time are important parameters to be considered during their implementation as a tool in the fight against human coronaviruses, namely against SARS-CoV-2.
AB - To help halt the global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), appropriate disinfection techniques are required. Over the last years, the interest in Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) radiation as a method to disinfect inanimate surfaces and personal protective equipment (PPE) has increased, mainly to efficiently disinfect and prevent SARS-CoV-2 from spreading and allow for the safe reuse of said equipment. The bacteriophage φ6 (or simply phage φ6) is an RNA virus with a phospholipid envelope and is commonly used in environmental studies as a surrogate for human RNA-enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The present study investigated the use of two new UV irradiation systems ((2)2.4W and (8)5.5W)) constituted by conventional mercury UV-C lamps with a strong emission peak at ~254 nm to potentially inactivate phage φ6 on different surfaces (glass, plastic, stainless steel, and wood) and personal protective equipment, PPE, (surgical and filtering facepiece 2, FFP2, masks, a clear acetate visor, and disposable protective clothing). The results showed that both UV-C systems were effective in inactivating phage φ6, but the UV-C sterilizing chamber (8)5.5W had the best disinfection performance on the tested surfaces. The inactivation effectiveness is material-dependent on all surfaces, reaching the detection limit of the method at different times (between 60 and 240 s of irradiation). The glass surface needed less time to reduce the virus (30 s) when compared with plastic, stainless, and wood surfaces (60 s). The virus inactivation was more effective in the disposable surgical and FFP2 masks (60 and 120 s, respectively) than in the disposable vest and clear acetate visor (240 s). Overall, this study suggests that UV-C lamps with peak emission at ~254 nm could provide rapid, efficient, and sustainable sanitization procedures to different materials and surfaces. However, dosage and irradiation time are important parameters to be considered during their implementation as a tool in the fight against human coronaviruses, namely against SARS-CoV-2.
KW - Disinfection
KW - Personal protective equipment
KW - Phage φ6
KW - SARS-CoV-2 surrogate
KW - Surfaces
KW - UV-C light
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125999997&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/microorganisms10030593
DO - 10.3390/microorganisms10030593
M3 - Article
C2 - 35336168
AN - SCOPUS:85125999997
SN - 2076-2607
VL - 10
JO - Microorganisms
JF - Microorganisms
IS - 3
M1 - 593
ER -
