Vincenzo Camisa, Salvatore Zaffina, Elena Solfaroli Camillocci, Davide Ciucci, Gian Marco Contessa, Emanuele Coscia, Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio, Annapaola Santoro, Maria Rosaria Vinci, Massimo Borra, Vittorio Cannatà
{"title":"在职业和紧急情况下使用杀菌紫外线灯对口腔的潜在健康危害","authors":"Vincenzo Camisa, Salvatore Zaffina, Elena Solfaroli Camillocci, Davide Ciucci, Gian Marco Contessa, Emanuele Coscia, Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio, Annapaola Santoro, Maria Rosaria Vinci, Massimo Borra, Vittorio Cannatà","doi":"10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The increasing needs for protection from COVID-19 pandemic and biological-related risks together with the broader availability of new technologies have led to a widespread use of UV germicidal lamps in many contexts. Safety is a major concern in the use of these devices especially in emergency situations. Skin and eye are commonly recognized as target organs for exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Nevertheless, adverse effects were also observed in the oral cavity of two healthcare workers after an accidental exposure to a germicidal lamp in hospital pharmacy. An experimental on-the-field study was set up to provide a risk assessment of accidental UVR exposure in the oral cavity. An adult manikin was adapted to reproduce real exposure in different postures. The oral cavity was exposed for 30 min (half of the time the workers spent at the workstation). The accumulated radiant energy per unit area was slightly above the limit for human biologically effective radiant exposure to UVR of eyes and skin within an 8-h period according to the ICNIRP guideline (30 J/m<sup>2</sup>). A UV-C exposure > 100 J/m<sup>2</sup> was assessed in correspondence to the lips of the manikin. The high humidity presents in the oral cavity and the absence of the stratum corneum in some areas might enhance the epithelium photo-damage due to UV-C, highlighting a potential risk of adverse effects to the oral cavity from exposure to artificial sources of UV-C radiation. Specific UVR exposure limits for the oral mucosa could be developed to prevent and protect workers’ health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":792,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal Plus","volume":"140 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Oral cavity damage as a potential health risk from germicidal UV lamp use in occupational and emergency situations\",\"authors\":\"Vincenzo Camisa, Salvatore Zaffina, Elena Solfaroli Camillocci, Davide Ciucci, Gian Marco Contessa, Emanuele Coscia, Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio, Annapaola Santoro, Maria Rosaria Vinci, Massimo Borra, Vittorio Cannatà\",\"doi\":\"10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><p>The increasing needs for protection from COVID-19 pandemic and biological-related risks together with the broader availability of new technologies have led to a widespread use of UV germicidal lamps in many contexts. Safety is a major concern in the use of these devices especially in emergency situations. Skin and eye are commonly recognized as target organs for exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Nevertheless, adverse effects were also observed in the oral cavity of two healthcare workers after an accidental exposure to a germicidal lamp in hospital pharmacy. An experimental on-the-field study was set up to provide a risk assessment of accidental UVR exposure in the oral cavity. An adult manikin was adapted to reproduce real exposure in different postures. The oral cavity was exposed for 30 min (half of the time the workers spent at the workstation). The accumulated radiant energy per unit area was slightly above the limit for human biologically effective radiant exposure to UVR of eyes and skin within an 8-h period according to the ICNIRP guideline (30 J/m<sup>2</sup>). A UV-C exposure > 100 J/m<sup>2</sup> was assessed in correspondence to the lips of the manikin. The high humidity presents in the oral cavity and the absence of the stratum corneum in some areas might enhance the epithelium photo-damage due to UV-C, highlighting a potential risk of adverse effects to the oral cavity from exposure to artificial sources of UV-C radiation. Specific UVR exposure limits for the oral mucosa could be developed to prevent and protect workers’ health.</p></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":792,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"The European Physical Journal Plus\",\"volume\":\"140 3\",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.9000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-03-26\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7.pdf\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"The European Physical Journal Plus\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"4\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"物理与天体物理\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The European Physical Journal Plus","FirstCategoryId":"4","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06190-7","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Oral cavity damage as a potential health risk from germicidal UV lamp use in occupational and emergency situations
The increasing needs for protection from COVID-19 pandemic and biological-related risks together with the broader availability of new technologies have led to a widespread use of UV germicidal lamps in many contexts. Safety is a major concern in the use of these devices especially in emergency situations. Skin and eye are commonly recognized as target organs for exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Nevertheless, adverse effects were also observed in the oral cavity of two healthcare workers after an accidental exposure to a germicidal lamp in hospital pharmacy. An experimental on-the-field study was set up to provide a risk assessment of accidental UVR exposure in the oral cavity. An adult manikin was adapted to reproduce real exposure in different postures. The oral cavity was exposed for 30 min (half of the time the workers spent at the workstation). The accumulated radiant energy per unit area was slightly above the limit for human biologically effective radiant exposure to UVR of eyes and skin within an 8-h period according to the ICNIRP guideline (30 J/m2). A UV-C exposure > 100 J/m2 was assessed in correspondence to the lips of the manikin. The high humidity presents in the oral cavity and the absence of the stratum corneum in some areas might enhance the epithelium photo-damage due to UV-C, highlighting a potential risk of adverse effects to the oral cavity from exposure to artificial sources of UV-C radiation. Specific UVR exposure limits for the oral mucosa could be developed to prevent and protect workers’ health.
期刊介绍:
The aims of this peer-reviewed online journal are to distribute and archive all relevant material required to document, assess, validate and reconstruct in detail the body of knowledge in the physical and related sciences.
The scope of EPJ Plus encompasses a broad landscape of fields and disciplines in the physical and related sciences - such as covered by the topical EPJ journals and with the explicit addition of geophysics, astrophysics, general relativity and cosmology, mathematical and quantum physics, classical and fluid mechanics, accelerator and medical physics, as well as physics techniques applied to any other topics, including energy, environment and cultural heritage.