N95 respirator hybrid decontamination method using Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) coupled with Microwave-Generated Steam (MGS)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has induced a critical supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) especially N95 respirators. Utilizing respirator decontamination procedures to reduce the pathogen load of a contaminated N95 respirator can be a viable solution for reuse purposes. In this study, the efficiency of a novel hybrid respirator decontamination method of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) which utilizes ultraviolet-C (UV-C) rays coupled with microwave-generated steam (MGS) against feline coronavirus (FCoV) was evaluated. The contaminated 3M 1860 respirator pieces were treated with three treatments (UVGI-only, MGS-only, and Hybrid—UVGI + MGS) with variable time. The virucidal activity was evaluated using the TCID50 method. The comparison of decontamination efficiency of the treatments indicated that the hybrid method achieved at least a pathogen log reduction of 4 logs, faster than MGS and UVGI. These data recommend that the proposed hybrid decontamination system is more effective comparatively in achieving pathogen log reduction of 4 logs. Copyright: © 2024 Gopalan et al.
Keywords
Decontamination, Equipment reuse, Microwaves, N95 Respirators, Pandemics, Steam, Ultraviolet rays
Divisions
mechanical,Socialprevent,tidrec
Funders
Universiti Malaya [Grant no. UMCSRG - CSRG003-2020ST]
Publication Title
PLoS ONE
Volume
19
Issue
2 Febr
Publisher
Public Library of Science