Mapping of UV-C dose and SARS-CoV-2 viral inactivation across N95 respirators during decontamination.

ABSTRACT: During public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, ultraviolet-C (UV-C) decontamination of N95 respirators for emergency reuse has been implemented to mitigate shortages. Pathogen photoinactivation efficacy depends critically on UV-C dose, which is distance- and angle-dependent and thus varies substantially across N95 surfaces within a decontamination system. Due to nonuniform and system-dependent UV-C dose distributions, characterizing UV-C dose and resulting pathogen inactivation with sufficient spatial resolution on-N95 is key to designing and validating UV-C decontamination protocols. However, robust quantification of UV-C dose across N95 facepieces presents challenges, as few UV-C measurement tools have sufficient (1) small, flexible form factor, and (2) angular response. To addr

SUBMITTER: Geldert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8514565 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature