Viricidal Efficacy of a 405 ‐nm Environmental Decontamination System for Inactivation of Bacteriophage Phi6: Surrogate for SARS‐CoV‐2

This study investigates the efficacy of a low irradiance 405-nm light environmental decontamination system for the inactivation of bacteriophage phi6 as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. Bacteriophage phi6 was exposed to increasing doses of low irradiance (~0.5 mW cm-2) 405-nm light whilst suspended in SM buffer and artificial human saliva at low (~103-4 PFU mL-1) and high (~107-8 PFU mL-1) seeding densities, to determine system efficacy for SARS-CoV-2 inactivation and establish the influence of biologically-relevant suspension media on viral susceptibility. Complete/near-complete ( ≥99.4%) inactivation was demonstrated in all cases, with significantly enhanced reductions observed in biologically-relevant media (P<0.05). Doses of 43.2 and 172.8 J cm-2 were required to achieve ~3 log10 reductions at low density, and 97.2 and 259.2 J cm-2 achieved ~6 log10 reductions at high density, in saliva and SM buffer, respectively: 2.6-4 times less dose was required when suspended in saliva compared to SM buffer. Comparative exposure to higher irradiance (~50 mW cm-2) 405-nm light indicated that, on a per unit dose basis, 0.5 mW cm-2 treatments were capable of achieving up to 5.8 greater log10 reductions with up to 28-fold greater germicidal efficiency than that of 50 mW cm-2 treatments. These findings establish the efficacy of low irradiance 405-nm light systems for inactivation of a SARS-CoV-2 surrogate and demonstrate the significant enhancement in susceptibility when suspended in sali...
Source: Photochemistry and Photobiology - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Research Note Source Type: research