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"Far-UVC light is a promising new technology for reducing airborne virus levels in occupied indoor spaces, but its effectiveness has not been evaluated in real-life scenarios. ..."
"... A study ... shows that far-UVC light inactivated nearly all (>99%) of an airborne virus in an occupied work environment, showing that the technology can work as well in a real-life scenario as in the laboratory. ...
Over the past few years, ... team has been developing far-UVC light, which has a shorter wavelength (222-nm) than conventional germicidal UVC light and cannot penetrate or damage living skin or eyes. Laboratory tests at Columbia and other centers have demonstrated that far-UVC quickly and efficiently inactivates airborne pathogens in both small and room-sized test chambers. ..."
From the abstract:
"An emerging intervention for control of airborne-mediated pandemics and epidemics is whole-room far-UVC (200–235 nm). Laboratory studies have shown that 222-nm light inactivates airborne pathogens, potentially without harm to exposed occupants. While encouraging results have been reported in benchtop studies and in room-sized bioaerosol chambers, there is a need for quantitative studies of airborne pathogen reduction in occupied rooms. We quantified far-UVC mediated reduction of aerosolized murine norovirus (MNV) in an occupied mouse-cage cleaning room within an animal-care facility. Benchtop studies suggest that MNV is a conservative surrogate for airborne viruses such as influenza and coronavirus. Using four 222-nm fixtures installed in the ceiling, and staying well within current recommended regulatory limits, far-UVC reduced airborne infectious MNV by 99.8% (95% CI: 98.2–99.9%). Similar to previous room-sized bioaerosol chamber studies on far-UVC efficacy, these results suggest that aerosolized virus susceptibility is significantly higher in room-scale tests than in bench-scale laboratory studies. That said, as opposed to controlled laboratory studies, uncertainties in this study related to airflow patterns, virus residence time, and dose to the collected virus introduce uncertainty into the inactivation estimates. This study is the first to directly demonstrate far-UVC anti-microbial efficacy against airborne pathogens in an occupied indoor location."
Far-UVC Light Can Virtually Eliminate Airborne Virus in an Occupied Room (original news release)
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