Wu Yan, Yao Maosheng
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China.
Chin Sci Bull. 2014;59(13):1438-1445. doi: 10.1007/s11434-014-0171-3. Epub 2014 Mar 13.
Infectious diseases cause tremendous costs of both human and economy annually. Previously, we have studied the bacterial, fungal, and allergen aerosol inactivation by direct microwave irradiation. Here, we further investigated its effects on airborne viruses. MS2 coliphage used as a human model virus was aerosolized and exposed to the direct microwave irradiation for ~2 min at three different power levels (700, 385, and 119 W). In addition to the survival rate, the viral genes before and after the microwave treatments were also examined using PCR and gel electrophoresis. Direct exposure of airborne MS2 viruses to the microwave irradiation at 700 W for less than 2 min was shown to result in more than 90 % inactivation efficiency, about 65 % at medium power level (385 W), and 50 % at the lowest level (119 W). The aerosol inactivation rate followed a linear relationship with the microwave exposure time ( = 0.9889). Scanning electron images revealed visible damages to the viral surface after the exposure. Damages were also observed to the viral RNA genes coding for coat proteins, among which the A protein gene was completely destroyed. This study demonstrated that even without the filtration the direct microwave irradiation could also achieve rapid inactivation of viral aerosols. The information obtained can provide useful guidance on the development of microwave-based viral threat mitigation solutions in a closed or semi-closed space.
传染病每年都会给人类和经济带来巨大损失。此前，我们研究了直接微波辐射对细菌、真菌和过敏原气溶胶的灭活作用。在此，我们进一步研究了其对空气传播病毒的影响。将用作人类模型病毒的MS2噬菌体雾化，并在三种不同功率水平（700、385和119瓦）下暴露于直接微波辐射约2分钟。除了存活率外，还使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）和凝胶电泳检测了微波处理前后的病毒基因。结果表明，将空气传播的MS2病毒直接暴露于700瓦的微波辐射下不到2分钟，灭活效率超过90%；在中等功率水平（385瓦）下约为65%；在最低水平（119瓦）下为50%。气溶胶灭活率与微波暴露时间呈线性关系（ = 0.9889）。扫描电子图像显示暴露后病毒表面有明显损伤。还观察到编码外壳蛋白的病毒RNA基因受损，其中A蛋白基因被完全破坏。这项研究表明，即使不经过过滤，直接微波辐射也能快速灭活病毒气溶胶。所获得的信息可为在封闭或半封闭空间开发基于微波的病毒威胁缓解解决方案提供有用指导。
