Ozone efficacy for the control of airborne viruses: Bacteriophage and norovirus models

Marie-Eve Dubuis; Nathan Dumont-Leblond; Camille Laliberté; Marc Veillette; Nathalie Turgeon; Julie Jean; Caroline Duchaine

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231164

Ozone efficacy for the control of airborne viruses: Bacteriophage and norovirus models

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 10;15(4):e0231164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231164. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Marie-Eve Dubuis^{1

2}, Nathan Dumont-Leblond^{1

2}, Camille Laliberté², Marc Veillette¹, Nathalie Turgeon¹, Julie Jean³, Caroline Duchaine^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec - Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
² Département de Biochimie, de Microbiologie et de Bio-informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
³ Département des Sciences des Aliments, Faculté des Sciences de l'Agriculture et de l'Alimentation, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Abstract

This study was designed to test the efficacy of an air treatment using ozone and relative humidity (RH) for the inactivation of airborne viruses. Four phages (φX174, PR772, MS2 and φ6) and one eukaryotic virus (murine norovirus MNV-1) were exposed to low ozone concentrations (1.23 ppm for phages and 0.23 ppm for MNV-1) and various levels of RH for 10 to 70 minutes. The inactivation of these viruses was then assessed to determine which of the tested conditions provided the greatest reduction in virus infectivity. An inactivation of at least two orders of magnitude for φX174, MS2 and MNV-1 was achieved with an ozone exposure of 40 minutes at 85% RH. For PR772 and φ6, exposure to the reference condition at 20% RH for 10 minutes yielded the same results. These findings suggest that ozone used at a low concentration is a powerful disinfectant for airborne viruses when combined with a high RH. Air treatment could therefore be implemented inside hospital rooms ventilated naturally.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Microbiology*
Animals
Bacteriophage phi X 174 / drug effects
Bacteriophage phi X 174 / isolation & purification
Bacteriophage phi X 174 / pathogenicity
Disinfectants / pharmacology*
Disinfection / methods*
Escherichia coli / virology
Humidity
Mice
Norovirus / drug effects
Norovirus / isolation & purification
Norovirus / pathogenicity
Ozone / pharmacology*
RAW 264.7 Cells
Virus Diseases / prevention & control*
Virus Diseases / transmission
Virus Diseases / virology
Virus Inactivation / drug effects

Substances

Disinfectants
Ozone

Grants and funding

Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) discovery grant RGPIN-2014-05900 https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ MED: NSERC and the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) irsst.qc.ca NDL: NSERC, FRQNT and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics department of Université Laval. frqnt.gouv.qc.ca bcm.ulaval.ca The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.