Researchers at Columbia University Over the past few years we’ve developed a promising technique to prevent the airborne transmission of viruses like influenza virus, which we would expect to be effective for coronavirus too. In short, the idea is to use the power of light. Here’s how it works:
- It’s well known that conventional germicidal ultraviolet (UV) light reduces the person-to-person transmission of viruses through the air, by killing the viruses while they are in the air. Unfortunately, conventional germicidal UV light is a safety hazard, as it causes skin cancer and cataracts or other eye problems.
- What we have come up with is a particular type of UV light (“far-UVC” light with a wavelength around 220 nm) which has only a very short range in biological material, so that it cannot penetrate the dead-cell layer at the surface of our skin, nor can it penetrate into our eyes. So, it can’t reach or damage any living cells in our body.
- But it can penetrate and kill viruses floating in the air, simply because viruses are incredibly small!
Dr. Eddie Fatakhov is a Board-Certified Internist from Atlanta who is on the front line in the expected escalation of the novel coronavirus. Dr. Eddie joins us to offer one practical solution to contain the spread of the virus.
Q&A:
- Just how bad is the COVID-19 coronavirus and what makes it different from other viruses?
Answer: The most notable aspect of the COVID-19 coronavirus is that it is more contagious than SARS or MERS which are also types of coronaviruses, but it’s far less lethal. So, you’re more likely to catch it but far more likely to survive it.
The COVID-19 outbreak has recently been upgraded by the World Health Organization to pandemic status. What is a pandemic?
According to the CDC a pandemic is global outbreak of a new disease that can spread between people sustainable because there is little to no pre-existing immunity against the new virus.
Previous pandemics include Swine Flu H1N1 2009, Avian Flu H5N1, Spanish flu of 1918 and the HIV/AIDS pandemic that since 1981 has claimed 36 million lives. Currently there are 31-35 million people living with HIV. Compare this to the global death from COVID-19 sitting at 6,456, with only around half the deaths outside of china
- How does UV light therapy work?
Answer: On the UV light spectrum there are UV-A, B, and C lights. Only the UV-C light can kill germs. The UV lights disrupt the DNA structure and amino acids that disrupts the bacteria or virus and inactivates them.
- Don’t UV lights cause possible Skin Cancer, Skin irritation and even cataracts in humans that’s why hospitals have robots using the UV light to disinfect the rooms?
Answer: Low-level far-UVC fixtures, which are potentially safe for human exposure, could provide the desired antimicrobial benefits without the accompanying human health concerns of conventional germicidal lamp UVGI. However as discussed above, based on biophysical considerations and in contrast to the known human health safety issues associated with conventional germicidal 254-nm broad-spectrum UVC light, far-UVC light does not appear to be cytotoxic to exposed human cells and tissues in vitro or in vivo.
- How can Far UV light help with this pandemic?
It follows that the use of overhead low-level far-UVC light in public locations may represent a safe and efficient methodology for limiting the transmission and spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases such as COVID-19, influenza and tuberculosis.
- Having UVC approach is key advantage while waiting for a Vaccine
Answer: A key advantage of the UVC based approach, which is in clear contrast to vaccination approaches, is that UVC light is likely to be effective against all airborne microbes as pathogens morphology changes and requires updates in the vaccines like we have for the flu. It remains to be seen if that will be the case for COVID-19
- Can the Sun protect us from COVID-19? NO
Answer: UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and UVC rays which have the shortest wavelengths. While UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere, all UVC and some UVB rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. So, most of the UV rays you come in contact with are UVA with a small amount of UVB.
REFERENCES:
Credit: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/fighting-the-flu-with-ultraviolet-light/ )
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21058-w
And here’s another helpful link: https://www.genengnews.com/topics/translational-medicine/uv-light-that-is-safe-for-humans-but-bad-for-bacteria-and-viruses/
Eddie Fatakhov, M.D is a Board-Certified Physician, Nutritionist, and Best-Selling Author of “Dr. Fat-Off Simple Life-Long Weight-Loss Solutions.”
Demo: Why are Children Less Likely to get COVID-19?
On the Story with Lynn Smith/ HLN/CNN
Guest: Eddie Fatakhov, MD
