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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1537742
This article is part of the Research Topic Non-Ionizing Radiation: Impacts on Human Health from Exposures in Occupational Settings View all articles
Impact of Ultraviolet Radiation on Filtering Facepiece Respirators and SARS-CoV-2 Detection
Provisionally accepted
Khaled Al-hadyan *
Najla Al-harbi 
Sara Bin Judia Maha Al-Ghamdi 
Ibtihaj Alsharif Layla Alharbi Maha Al-Mozaini Belal Moftah Salem Al-Ghamdi 
Ghazi Alsbeih *- King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 caused by SARS-CoV-2 resulted in a shortage of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), such as N95 and KN95 masks. In this study, we evaluated the effect of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) irradiation (60-900 mJ/cm²) on the filtration efficiency (FE) using various particle sizes (PSs, 0.3-5 µm) representing seven common FFR types (3M-8210, 3M-1860, Gerson 1730, Medline, Benehal, KN95 "duck shape," and KN95 "molded shape") and the stability of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genes (E, RdRp2, RdRp4, and N) using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Following UV-C exposure, the FE of the FFRs at all PSs was >98%, with no significant differences among them (P > 0.05). UV-C irradiation significantly increased the RT-qPCR cycle threshold values (ΔCt) for the E, RdRp2, and RdRp4 SARS-CoV-2 genes (P ≤ 0.001) compared with the control, indicating marked RNA degradation; however, it did not significantly affect N gene stability (P = 0.612). These results support the use of UV-C as an effective decontamination technique for FFRs, particularly during periods of shortage.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Filtering facepiece respirators, decontamination ultraviolet irradiation, RT-qPCR, Filtration efficiency
Received: 01 Dec 2024; Accepted: 04 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Al-hadyan, Al-harbi, Bin Judia, Al-Ghamdi, Alsharif, Alharbi, Al-Mozaini, Moftah, Al-Ghamdi and Alsbeih. 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:
Khaled Al-hadyan, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ghazi Alsbeih, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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