Ultraviolet light zaps superbugs at UPMC hospitals

[IceWizard]

Anybody heard this before ... Sounds promising

Ultraviolet light zaps superbugs at UPMC hospitals

****The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
is a $20 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 87,000
employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 700 clinical
locations including outpatient sites and doctors' offices, a 3.4
million-member health insurance division

[Furyan66]

INTERNAL DISINFECTANT is administered into the body as a UV
disinfectant to kill bacteria and viruses and this has been used for a while now.

   

[Charon]

good finds. Thank u Ice and Fury.

[barq2]

UV through a fiber-optic is used to cure the acrylic adhesive in some cannulas. It is a bit like how dentists use UV inside your mouth for a few seconds to cure a white filling and set it hard.

[Bubba Gamps]

Very interesting.  UV light has been used for some time in water treatment systems to kill bacteria.  It has been proven that UV rays in sunlight kill viruses, as well.  I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that retailers will use UV light to disinfect their stores in the very near future.   As the technology advances, the cost of units will decrease.

[barq2]

Very interesting.  UV light has been used for some time in water treatment systems to kill bacteria.  It has been proven that UV rays in sunlight kill viruses, as well.  I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that retailers will use UV light to disinfect their stores in the very near future.   As the technology advances, the cost of units will decrease.

You could certainly disinfect a store with the right frequency of UV. But it would have to be while the shop was shut. Unfortunately you couldn't run it while people are inside, which is a shame because that's when it would be most useful to destroy viri. The issue is that you'd damage people's sight (short term it would hurt their eyes, long term they'd develop cataracts). Also production of UV at this frequency produces ozone in large quantities and that's bad for your lungs and makes you more prone to developing lung infections. 

UV could have it's place in the home if you wanted to decontaminate a room without chemicals. Open the windows, make sure everyone knows not to enter the room, and flick the UV light on (you can get UV lights on Ebay relatively cheaply). If I were a fridge manufacturer I'd be looking at next gen fridges that blast everything inside with UV when the door is shut. Not sure how the deal with the ozone problem, or the damage to the plastic interior of the fridge, but I'm sure they could be overcome.

[IceWizard]

What do "Tanning Booths" use in order to get you tanned ....

UV's?

Ice

[barq2]

What do "Tanning Booths" use in order to get you tanned ....

UV's?

Ice

It is a different frequency of UV for tanning rather than sterilizing. In a tanning booth you have to wear dark goggles because of the potential damage to your eyes (I think that's a legal requirement, although obviously it may be different in the USA).

UV is a good way of sterilizing limited spaces* and things, but not so much people. It has the huge advantage that you don't leave behind a chemical residue like with bleach. You can use it on things that wouldn't respond well to being sprayed with liquid disinfectant. I suppose if a store had a sufficiently sophisticated AC system then it could potentially vent the ozone, and keep the UV light contained so no eye damage, but let it sterilize the air as it passes through. Of course that wouldn't sterilize the surfaces, but arguably the surface contact problem is easier to solve (wash your hands) than the breathing issue. 

Anyway it is a bit like what Bubba Gamps mentioned about treating water. In the swimming pool units the UV is contained so humans aren't exposed, but can swim in the sterilized water. I guess many are outdoors so could vent the ozone that way.

Please don't think I'm against UV. In fact I ordered a UV unit for the "quarantine" zone inside my house. But it is sterilization for groceries and packages, but not for humans (that's what the shower is for!). I have been spraying things down with alcohol, but the fumes were a serious fire risk. UV won't have that problem!

* Limited due to the inverse square rule.

[barq2]

This is an old thread, but I'm just gonna come back and say I did some more research around IceWizard's suggestion and bought a UV-C lamp. That's a different frequency to UV lamps in tanning beds or "black light" in nightclubs. It is germicidal and deactivates/"kills" this virus, but it isn't very human-friendly... you really don't want to be in the room when a UVC tube is on as it can burn your skin, damage your eyes and possibly give you skin cancer. It also produces ozone gas, so you need to ventilate the space really well. This is the sort of UV where the frequency is going away from the visible spectrum of light and towards x-rays. But in the same way it is damaging to human cells, a blast of this UV inactivates the virus. I'm using it to decontaminate things bought online and some groceries (it isn't so good for fruit veg as it over-ripens it - you can end up with a load of mush).

Lots of the germicidal UV or UV-C lamps on sale from places like Ebay are fakes. The thing to look for is one with a glass tube and not LEDs (as they can't produce UV-C). There is a fun test you can do to check it... get an under-ripe banana, expose to UV-C for about 10 mins, and then your banana will be ripe. :-) 

Seriously though, this is potentially dangerous so do your research and if you want to try UV-C but aren't sure, please drop me a PM. I would hate for anyone on this forum to injure themselves.