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Inactivation of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 by 254 nm UV-C irradiation
Natalia Ruetalo1, Simon Berger2, Jennifer Niessner2
1Institute for Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Surface residing SARS-CoV-2 is efficiently inactivated by UV-C irradiation. This raises the question whether UV-C-based technologies are also suitable to decontaminate SARS-CoV-2- containing aerosols and which doses are needed to achieve inactivation. Here, we designed a test bench to generate aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 and exposed the aerosols to a defined UV-C dose. Our results demonstrate that the exposure of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 with a low average dose in the order of 0.42-0.51 mJ/cm2 UV-C at 254 nm resulted in more than 99.9% reduction in viral titers. Altogether, UV-C-based decontamination of aerosols seems highly effective to achieve a significant reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.
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