“MONDAY, Feb. 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) – As a particularly nasty flu season rages across the United States, scientists have found a powerful new disinfectant that makes “light” work of the virus.”
The article goes on to note:
“Though hand-washing remains critically important, it does not prevent every instance of transmission,” Grosso said. “Immunization and antiviral medications are also important, but again, have limitations. It appears that low-dose far-UV light is safe and effective, and has the advantage of inactivating a wide range of disease-causing viruses.”
Yes we all know this. The Homeland Security guy literally said that it can sterilize nonporous surfaces like five minutes before Trump started rambling about shoving it down people’s throats. Which is still incredibly stupid.
DH asked this question of someone who knows, and was told that yes, it can kill viruses, but not to use it on materials (masks) because the UV light breaks down the fabric fibers and the masks may lose their effectiveness.
Hey, I just ran across this.
It looks like this company is partnering with Cedars-Sinai for some kind of endoscopic UV-A device to treat COVID. Thoughts?
Why are you suggesting its quackery? I admit I was goofing on Trump the last 2 days along with a lot of other folks, and then I ran across this article. The Cedars-Sinai doc seems to think there’s something potentially promising. I’m as skeptical as the next guy, so what am I missing?
“Our team has shown that administering a specific spectrum of UV-A light can eradicate viruses in infected human cells (including coronavirus) and bacteria in the area while preserving healthy cells,” stated Dr. Pimentel of Cedars-Sinai. Ali Rezaie, MD, one of the inventors of this technology states, “Our lab at Cedars-Sinai has extensively studied the effects of this unique technology on bacteria and viruses. Based on our findings we believe this therapeutic approach has the potential to significantly impact the high morbidity and mortality of coronavirus-infected patients and patients infected with other respiratory pathogens. We are looking forward to partnering with Aytu BioScience to move this technology forward for the benefit of patients all over the world.”
ETA: Sorry, I mean’t only to paste the doc’s comment (italics), but I can’t get rid of the rest for some reason.
I use a UV lamp between the water softener and the ceramic conditioner for my water setup. It kills viruses and bacteria potentially present in the well water.
There are plenty of studies that prove UV-C light is highly effective in disinfecting surfaces and items. But it is not 100% safe. You must be careful to to expose yourself to the light directly.
“Airborne-mediated microbial diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis represent major public health challenges. A direct approach to prevent airborne transmission is inactivation of airborne pathogens, and the airborne antimicrobial potential of UVC ultraviolet light has long been established; however, its widespread use in public settings is limited because conventional UVC light sources are both carcinogenic and cataractogenic. By contrast, we have previously shown that far-UVC light (207–222 nm) efficiently inactivates bacteria without harm to exposed mammalian skin. This is because, due to its strong absorbance in biological materials, far-UVC light cannot penetrate even the outer (non living) layers of human skin or eye; however, because bacteria and viruses are of micrometer or smaller dimensions, far-UVC can penetrate and inactivate them. We show for the first time that far-UVC efficiently inactivates airborne aerosolized viruses, with a very low dose of 2 mJ/cm2 of 222-nm light inactivating >95% of aerosolized H1N1 influenza virus. Continuous very low dose-rate far-UVC light in indoor public locations is a promising, safe and inexpensive tool to reduce the spread of airbornemediated microbial diseases.”
