Can UV lamps really slow the spread of the flu?

It should be possible, because UV rays can indeed have a germicidal effect on some bacteria.

This is indeed possible, after all, ultraviolet rays still have a germicidal function.

Ultraviolet rays can kill some bacteria and viruses, and it does have such an effect.

Ultraviolet rays should have a germicidal effect, but it shouldn't be too noticeable.

Hospitals and laboratories often use UV disinfection for sterilization, but this method has one major drawback:Ultraviolet rays are harmful to the human body. Therefore, UV lamps are only used in unmanned rooms and unused lab desks.

Now, researchers have discovered that shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet light may be harmless to humans. In theory, the discovery turned UV light into a new tool that could slow the spread of disease in schools, crowded airplanes, food processing plants, and even operating rooms and laboratories.

Ultraviolet light disinfects by breaking the molecular bonds that bind the microbial genetic material or proteins. The most commonly used UV wavelength is 254nm, which is relatively short (Class C) but sufficient to penetrate ** and the eye, causing cancer and cataracts. So, over the past four years, a team of researchers led by David Brenner, a physicist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, has tested "far-ultraviolet" light with shorter wavelengths, which cannot penetrate the outer layer of the eye or **.

The researchers found that far-ultraviolet light removed bacteria from the surface of the rats, but did not harm the mice themselves.

Next, Brenner and colleagues discussed whether far-UV light could address many of the major health risks in public environments: microbes in the air. They first atomized the influenza virus in a room and exposed it to ultraviolet light at a wavelength of 222nm, while the control group was not exposed to any light.

The researchers then took a liquid sample from the room and applied it to the kidney cells of flu-prone dogs. In a study report published on December 28, 2017 in Bioxiv, a life science preprint, the researchers noted that liquid samples of influenza viruses that are not exposed to any light can infect cells, but liquid samples treated with ultraviolet light cannot infect cells. Sean Gibbs, an industrial hygienist at Indiana University School of Public Health(Shawn Gibbs), who has studied the properties of UV disinfectants, said that if the results are confirmed, "it would be very beneficial to intervene in the spread of disease."

Brenner and his colleagues plan to do more research on far-ultraviolet light and microbes to better assess their safety and efficacy at different wavelengths. If all goes well, he said, they can collect enough data within a few years to get regulatory approval.

Ultraviolet disinfection includes bacterial propagules, spores, mycobacteria, coronaviruses, fungi, rickettsial and chlamydia, and can be used to disinfect surfaces, water and air contaminated by these viruses.

Precautions for use:

1. When using ultraviolet lamps to irradiate and kill viruses, it should be forbidden to be present to avoid injuries caused by direct irradiation of ultraviolet rays on people's eyes and **.

Second, ultraviolet rays have no penetration, straight line transmission, and there are three major sterilization blind spots:

1. It can only sterilize and disinfect the upper surface of the object (food), but not the lower surface of the object.

2. When multiple objects overlap, the surface of the overlapping part of the object cannot be sterilized and disinfected.

3. It can only sterilize and disinfect the outer surface of the object, but not the inside of the object. In other words, places that cannot be irradiated by ultraviolet light (invisible light) cannot play a role in sterilization and disinfection.

4. During use, the surface of the ultraviolet lamp should be kept clean, generally wiped with an alcohol cotton ball every two weeks, and when dust and oil are found on the surface of the lamp, it should be wiped at any time.

5. When disinfecting indoor air with ultraviolet lamp, the room should be kept clean and dry, dust and water mist should be reduced, the temperature should be lower than 20 or higher than 40, and the irradiation time should be appropriately extended when the relative humidity is greater than 60%.

6. When disinfecting the surface of articles with ultraviolet rays, the irradiated surface should be directly irradiated by ultraviolet rays, and the irradiation dose should be sufficient.

The bacteria and viruses that UV lamps can kill are as follows:

Precautions for the use of ultraviolet lamps.

1. Reasonable cooling of ultraviolet lamp: Usually the temperature of the surface of the ultraviolet lamp will be as high as hundreds of degrees Celsius to achieve the maximum output power, therefore, the cooling air volume must be reasonable when designing, otherwise it will directly affect the normal output of the ultraviolet lamp.

If the air volume is too low, the ultraviolet lamp will not be well cooled, and the lamp body will be overheated for a long time, which may cause the lamp body to expand and the electrodes to blacken, and eventually shorten its service life; Regularly check whether the air path and exhaust are smooth;

2. Reasonable reflection system: according to the different requirements of ultraviolet light intensity that users want to obtain, the reflectors configured by equipment manufacturers will be different, therefore, in order to ensure the light intensity index, in addition to regularly cleaning the lamp body, it is also very necessary to clean the reflector.

3. Purple regular rotating ultraviolet lamp: it can maintain the shape and stable output of the lamp well;

4. The lamp is discharged by high-pressure mercury vapor to produce strong long-wave violet radiation (the main line is 365 nm); Strong ultraviolet rays can burn the eyes and**, direct exposure to lights should be avoided during use;

5. If the ultraviolet sterilization and disinfection lamp is accidentally damaged, resulting in mercury vapor emission, the on-site personnel must leave immediately and let the site continue to ventilate for 20-30 minutes to prevent mercury vapor from being inhaled into the body and causing poisoning; When it is safe, the site should be cleaned up in time, and the mercury raw materials of ** can be retained for experimental use;

6. Each ultraviolet lamp has unique mechanical and electrical parameters, and it is very important to provide a supporting driving power supply. The power supply of transformer, capacitor or electronic circuit must be selected to match the parameters of the lamp;

7. Lighting the lamp too frequently: it will cause both ends of the lamp to turn black prematurely, and gradually affect the main part of the lamp, which will also turn black, and finally lead to the reduction of the output power of the lamp;

8. Avoid too frequent cold start of the lamp, when a lamp is lit at the beginning stage, the internal voltage is very low. The electrodes at both ends will emit tungsten during this time, which will cause many punctate pollutants to be produced inside the lamp, which will become one of the reasons for the premature damage of the lamp, so the lamp should be lit under high voltage conditions and the lighting time should be shortened;

9. The life of the lamp is affected by many factors, such as: the number of lights, the working time after each lighting, the operation data of electricity and heat, and whether the lamp is properly handled, etc., will affect the life of the lamp; Therefore, the average life guaranteed by the manufacturer is usually the average life.

10. Ensure that the input power supply of the use environment is stable, if the power supply fluctuation range of the use environment is large, it is recommended to equip a voltage regulator to ensure the stable output of the ultraviolet lamp.

Ultraviolet rays are effective against our common viruses and bacteria, such as influenza virus, mites, Anthracis maggot, Escherichia coli, hepatitis B virus, dysentery bacillus, etc. In addition, it is recommended that you use Shellright's ultraviolet germicidal lamps for household use.

Precautions 1: With the extension of the use time, the radiation intensity of the ultraviolet germicidal lamp will gradually decline. Generally, after 5000 hours of use, the ultraviolet germicidal lamp needs to be replaced.

2. When using ultraviolet germicidal lamps, attention should be paid to the irradiation distance between the disinfected object and the ultraviolet germicidal lamp, that is, the hanging height of the ultraviolet germicidal lamp should be less than meters.

3. Avoid facing the light source, and cannot be exposed to ultraviolet rays for a long time, which is easy to cause diseases such as cancer.

4. Ordinary glass is almost impenetrable to ultraviolet rays, so when using ultraviolet rays to kill viruses, avoid placing ultraviolet lamps in the glass cover or close to the glass.

Ultraviolet lamps can kill most viruses and bacteria, but the main thing to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease and influenza is to do a good job of personal hygiene and sanitation.