TY - JOUR AU - Bergman, Rolf AU - Brenner, David J. AU - Buonanno, Manuela AU - Eadie, Ewan AU - Forbes, Paul Donald AU - Jensen, Paul AU - Nardell, Edward A AU - Sliney, David AU - Vincent, Richard AU - Welch, David AU - Wood, Kenneth PY - 2021 DA - May TI - Air disinfection with germicidal ultraviolet: for this pandemic and the next JO - Photochemistry and Photobiology EP - 465 VL - 97 IS - 3 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13424 AB - Germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) air disinfection (also referred to as Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation or “UVGI”), as a control method for the transmission of airborne pathogens, has been used for more than 80 years. In 1942, upper-room GUV (disinfecting the room air by irradiating the air space above head height with air mixing) with 254 nm low-pressure mercury lamps was used very effectively to reduce the transmission of measles (the most infectious virus known) in two Philadelphia suburban schools (1-4). More recently, in the 1980s, it was also common to find UV luminaires in hospital emergency rooms, clinics, waiting rooms and operating theaters, primarily due to a global resurgence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (5). Unfortunately, interest in UV air disinfection waned primarily because drugs and vaccines became available for airborne bacterial and viral diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, mumps and chicken pox (6). However, research continued, leading to significant advances; confirmation of the efficacy and safety of upper-room GUV, new studies with ultraviolet radiation in the wavelength region 200 to 230 nm (dubbed “far-UVC”) and development of ultraviolet-C (UVC) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). PB - Wiley UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23320 KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19) KW - Environment, community and place ER