An efficient UV-C device for decontaminating personal protective equipment (PPE) soiled with human Corona and Influenza virus: Solution for small-scale reuse

Abstract In recent times, the world has witnessed a substantial surge in the use of non-recyclable items such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has increased the environmental pollution levels and caused a huge toll on the global waste management system. Hence, an effective strategy to resolve the logistic difficulties in the demand-supply disparity and sustainable management of used PPE is the need of the hour. Through this work, we aim to develop a cost-effective, convenient, and effective strategy to safely reuse PPE, by engineering an in-house make UV-C-based Sanitization Device (UVSD) and systematically evaluating its potential to disinfect virus-contaminated PPE. To this end, we engineered a UV-C-based Sanitization Device (UVSD) and tested its capacity to disinfect PPE, experimentally soiled with human Influenza (A/PR/8/1934/H1N1) and human Coronavirus (HCoV-OC43) through in vitro cell culture assays. Briefly, percentage cell protection was determined by MTT assay, quantification of viral gene transcript numbers was calculated by RT-qPCR and viral titer was determined by viral plaque formation assay. Further, Indirect immunofluorescence and viral hemagglutination assays were also performed to visualize and quantify the residual viral titers after UV-C irradiation. Our results demonstrate that a 15 min exposure of the virus-contaminated PPE within the UVSD cabinet could effectively inactivate both the H1N1 and HCoV-OC43 virus, suggesting its use at organizational levels, including in healthcare and other occupational settings.