Impact of ultraviolet radiation on filtering facepiece respirators and SARS-CoV-2 detection.

IF 3 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Frontiers in Public Health Pub Date : 2025-03-06 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1537742

Khaled Al-Hadyan, Najla Al-Harbi, Sara Bin Judia, Maha Al-Ghamdi, Ibtihaj Alsharif, Layla Alharbi, Maha Al-Mozaini, Belal Moftah, Salem Al-Ghamdi, Ghazi Alsbeih

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: The global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 caused by SARS-CoV-2 resulted in a shortage of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), such as N95 and KN95 masks. Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) irradiation has been proposed as a potential decontamination method to enable FFR reuse and mitigate the shortage. This study aims to evaluate the impact of UV-C irradiation on the filtration efficiency (FE) of various FFR types and SARS-CoV-2 RNA degradation.

Method: We evaluated the effect of UV-C irradiation (60-900 mJ/cm²) on the FE using various particle sizes (PSs, 0.3-5 μm) representing seven common FFR types (3M-8210, 3M-1860, Gerson 1730, Medline, Benehal, KN95 "duck shape," and KN95 "molded shape") and the stability of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genes (E, RdRp2, RdRp4, and N) using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

Results: Following UV-C exposure, the FE of the FFRs at all PSs was >98%, with no significant differences among them (p > 0.05). UV-C irradiation significantly increased the RT-qPCR cycle threshold values (ΔCt) for the E, RdRp2, and RdRp4 SARS-CoV-2 genes (p ≤ 0.001) compared with the control, indicating marked RNA degradation; however, it did not significantly affect N gene stability (p = 0.612).

Discussion: These results support the use of UV-C as an effective decontamination technique for FFRs, particularly during periods of shortage.

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Public Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

7.70%

发文量

4469

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Public Health is a multidisciplinary open-access journal which publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research and is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians, policy makers and the public worldwide. The journal aims at overcoming current fragmentation in research and publication, promoting consistency in pursuing relevant scientific themes, and supporting finding dissemination and translation into practice. Frontiers in Public Health is organized into Specialty Sections that cover different areas of research in the field. Please refer to the author guidelines for details on article types and the submission process.