In the realm of infectious diseases, a pandemic is the worst-case scenario. Mankind’s shifting to agrarian lifestyle has created communities that make epidemics more possible. Presently the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had brought the world to a standstill with World Health Organization (WHO) declaring a global health emergency. Corona Virus Disease COVID-19 will not be the world’s last health emergency and reports state that future pandemics will happen more often, kill more people and wreak even worse damage to the global economy than Covid-19. Thus, there is an urgent need for sustainable health emergency preparedness to deal with the coming pandemics. Safe and effective vaccine strategies when developed can be used to control pandemics. Meanwhile preventing the spread of the virus both in health-care premises and public places is of utmost important. Among a number of disinfection techniques available Ultraviolet radiation (UV) is gaining importance. Understanding of the main aspects of UV disinfection can lead to its proper use. A review was performed to collect relevant available studies concerning fundamentals of UV disinfection, mechanism of disinfection, types of lamps available and safety considerations. Moreover, important parameters regarding efficacy of UV disinfection process for human safety have been studied and are discussed here. It is hoped that the study would generate interest for developing and manufacturing new viable UV air and surface treatment devices required in sustainable preparedness for health security and resilience.

Review of UV C as disinfection method in present human coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) outbreak and future pandemics

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.