Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts have been telling people to use disinfectants and to wash their hands regularly. The pandemic has shed new light on the need for improving the disinfection methods both for people and facilities or even certain surfaces.
Innovators from Purdue University have developed a new airborne disinfection technique that uses food dyes applied to the entire body and in rooms for sterilization purposes to lower the risk of infection.
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Food Coloring as Disinfection
The team from Purdue presented its disinfection method in July during one of the COVID virtual conferences sponsored by the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer.
Associate professor of biomedical engineering Young Kim of Purdue University said that most antiviral and antibacterial sprays being used for airborne disinfection, like the aerosolized hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and deep ultraviolet illumination are all harmful to humans.
Antivirals and antibacterial disinfectants containing titanium oxide and noble metal nanoparticles can pose cytotoxicity and carcinogenic risks to people.
Due to that and the transmission of pathogens through the air, Kim said there is a need for coming up with new methods. The technique that they have developed might also be helpful in medical settings, where healthcare workers are commonly exposed to viruses and bacteria when they take off their personal protective equipment or PPE.
This new method is called the Photodynamic Airborne Cleaner or PAC. This new Purdue airborne antiviral phototherapy method uses small aerosols of FDA-approved food coloring to control the risks of possible airborne transmissions of viruses and bacteria.
Kim said that their novel solution demonstrates how visible light activation of many FDA-approved food coloring dyes could produce singlet oxygen that could be used for killing pathogens transmitted through the air.
Furthermore, Kim said that in the medical setting, singlet oxygen is known to be effective in deactivating viruses. The team is currently developing a scalable aerosol generation system for the food coloring to create a uniform fog-like dispersion that lingers in the air to lessen the wetting and staining on surfaces.
As healthcare providers are put at risk when they remove their PPEs, Kim, and his team's novel technology can be installed in a confined chamber for nurses and doctors to change their PPE in hospital settings.
In that sense, this new photoreactive arrangement can be used in rooms where there are a lot of people present and are at risk of getting infected from the virus due to airborne exposure.
Kim and his team are working with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to get a license in this patented photoreactive technology.
Cleaning and Hygiene Tips to Protect Against COVID-19
While research on a potential COVID-19 vaccine is ongoing, it is important that people should be aware of how the virus is transmitted. According to UNICEF, coronavirus can survive on surfaces for a few hours up to several days.
Experts suggest that everyone should practice personal hygiene by avoiding touching their faces, coughing or sneezing into the hands, practicing social distancing, and washing the hands regularly.
Furthermore, they also advise people to keep their houses clean by disinfecting high-touch surfaces and do the same in offices or other rooms.
In terms of laundry, they advise to do it regularly and practice precautionary measures. While on food handling and preparation, always remove unnecessary packaging and, if possible, wipe it clean with disinfectant before opening or storing.
READ MORE: CDC Emphasized COVID-19 Not Easily Spread by Touching Surfaces or Objects
