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REVIEW article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Indoor Environment
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1523055

Disinfection of Indoor Air for the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2: Review of Effectiveness of UV-C Technology and Gaps of Research

Provisionally accepted
Elena Cristina Rada Elena Cristina Rada 1*Chiara Vignali Chiara Vignali 2Stefano Bellazzi Stefano Bellazzi 2Marco Carnevale Miino Marco Carnevale Miino 1Alessandro Abbà Alessandro Abbà 3Marta Szabo Marta Szabo 4Vincenzo Torretta Vincenzo Torretta 1Maria Cristina Collivignarelli Maria Cristina Collivignarelli 2
  • 1 Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy
  • 2 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
  • 3 Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, University of Brescia, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy
  • 4 Department of Building Engineering and Energetics, Institute of Technology, Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Gödöllő, Hungary

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The last coronavirus disease is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In indoor environments, a structured strategy is needed to reduce the risk of infection. In addition to maintaining proper ventilation and wearing face masks, the development of effective technologies for limiting transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through infectious respiratory particles (IRPs) has been studied. UV-C devices have already proved to be effective for other types of microorganisms and have been investigated also for the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2. This work aims to review and discuss these results, presenting also some possible tips for future research. Based on available data, UV-C proved to be effective in the inactivation of airborne SARS-CoV-2 or surrogates. The main gaps of the research have been also highlighted and some outlooks for future studies have been suggested. In some studies, surrogate with a higher susceptibility to UV-C than airborne SARS-CoV-2 or the simply count of total bacteria count could have led to misleading results. The question "how much variables affect the inactivation rate by UV-C of airborne SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environment?" is still unsolved considering that the number studies about the inactivation of this virus in real indoor environments is quite limited. The outcomes of this study can be useful for the scientific community, the technical stakeholders (e.g., managers in the healthcare and transport sectors), and the common people, providing important information about the performance of these technologies to improve the quality of air in indoor environments.

    Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, Indoor pollutants, Airborne virus, pathogens, UV Disinfection

    Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 09 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rada, Vignali, Bellazzi, Carnevale Miino, Abbà, Szabo, Torretta and Collivignarelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Elena Cristina Rada, Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, University of Insubria, Varese, 38123, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.