Removal of virus aerosols by the combination of filtration and UV-c irradiation

The COVID-19 pandemic remains ever prevalent and afflicting—partially because one of its transmission pathways is aerosol.With the widely used central air conditioning systems worldwide,indoor virus aerosols can rapidly migrate,thus resulting in rapid infection transmission.It is therefore important to install microbial aerosol treatment units in the air conditioning systems,and we herein investigated the possibility of combining such filtration with UV irradiation to address virus aerosols.Results showed that the removal efficiency of filtration towards f2 and MS2 phages depended on the type of commercial filter material and the filtration speed,with an optimal velocity of 5 cm/s for virus removal.Additionally,it was found that UV irradiation had a significant effect on inactivating viruses enriched on the surfaces of filter materials;MS2 phages had greater resistance to UV-C irradiation than f2 phages.The optimal inactivation time for UV-C irradiation was 30 min,with higher irradiation times presenting no substantial increase in inactivation rate.Moreover,excessive virus enrichment on the filters decreased the inactivation effect.Timely inactivation is therefore recommended.In general,the combined system involving filtration with UV-C irradiation demonstrated a significant removal effect on virus aerosols.Moreover,the system is simple and economical,making it convenient for widespread implementation in air-conditioning systems.

Research progress of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 on aerosol collection and detection

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)in late 2019 has negatively affected people's lives and productivity.Because the mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is of great concern,this review discusses the sources of virus aerosols and possible transmission routes.First,we discuss virus aerosol collection methods,including natural sedimentation,solid impact,liquid impact,centrifugal,cyclone and electrostatic adsorption methods.Then,we review common virus aerosol detection methods,including virus culture,metabolic detection,nucleic acid-based detection and immunology-based detection methods.Finally,possible solutions for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols are introduced.Point-of-care testing has long been a focus of attention.In the near future,the development of an instrument that integrates sampling and output results will enable the real-time,automatic monitoring of patients.