Viricidal efficacy of a 405-nm environmental decontamination system for inactivation of bacteriophage Phi6 : surrogate for SARS-CoV-2

Sinclair, Lucy G. and Ilieva, Zornitsa and Morris, Georgina and Anderson, John G. and MacGregor, Scott J. and Maclean, Michelle (2023) Viricidal efficacy of a 405-nm environmental decontamination system for inactivation of bacteriophage Phi6 : surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 99 (6). pp. 1493-1500. ISSN 0031-8655 (https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13798)

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Abstract

The highly transmittable nature of SARS-CoV-2 has increased the necessity for novel strategies to safely decontaminate public areas. This study investigates the efficacy of a low irradiance 405-nm light environmental decontamination system for the inactivation of bacteriophage phi6 as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. Bacteriophage phi6 was exposed to increasing doses of low irradiance (~0.5 mW cm −2) 405-nm light while suspended in SM buffer and artificial human saliva at low (~10 3–4 PFU mL −1) and high (~10 7–8 PFU mL −1) seeding densities, to determine system efficacy for SARS-CoV-2 inactivation and establish the influence of biologically relevant suspension media on viral susceptibility. Complete/near-complete (≥99.4%) inactivation was demonstrated in all cases, with significantly enhanced reductions observed in biologically relevant media (P < 0.05). Doses of 43.2 and 172.8 J cm −2 were required to achieve ~3 log 10 reductions at low density, and 97.2 and 259.2 J cm −2 achieved ~6 log 10 reductions at high density, in saliva and SM buffer, respectively: 2.6–4 times less dose was required when suspended in saliva compared to SM buffer. Comparative exposure to higher irradiance (~50 mW cm −2) 405-nm light indicated that, on a per unit dose basis, 0.5 mW cm −2 treatments were capable of achieving up to 5.8 greater log 10 reductions with up to 28-fold greater germicidal efficiency than that of 50 mW cm −2 treatments. These findings establish the efficacy of low irradiance 405-nm light systems for inactivation of a SARS-CoV-2 surrogate and demonstrate the significant enhancement in susceptibility when suspended in saliva, which is a major vector in COVID-19 transmission.

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