ReviewPhotochemistry and photobiology2021
Air Disinfection for Airborne Infection Control with a Focus on COVID-19: Why Germicidal UV is Essential
Review in Photochemistry and photobiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Managing infectious aerosols to counter engineered pandemics: Current recommendations and future research.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2025Guideline
- Beyond Infection-Indoor Airborne Pathogens as Contributors to Respiratory Inflammation and Immune Dysregulation: A Narrative Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Is There an Optimal Wavelength for Germicidal Ultraviolet Air Disinfection?Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- A review on applications and safety of 222 nm far UVC light for surface and air disinfection.Biophysical reviews · 2026Review
- Experimental Evaluation of the Efficacy of Air-Sanitizing Equipment in Neutralizing Airborne SARS-CoV-2 Virus.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Impact of UVC Light on Indoor Air Chemistry: A Modeling Study.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Estimation of the UV susceptibility of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 to 254 nm irradiation using CFD-based room disinfection simulations.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- 222 nm far-UVC light markedly reduces the level of infectious airborne virus in an occupied room.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Far-UVC: Technology Update with an Untapped Potential to Mitigate Airborne Infections.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2023Article
- Indoor Air Quality Implications of Germicidal 222 nm Light.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Filter-Free, Harmless, and Single-Wavelength Far UV-C Germicidal Light for Reducing Airborne Pathogenic Viral Infection.Viruses · 2023Article
- UVC-Based Air Disinfection Systems for Rapid Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 Present in the Air.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Face mask performance related to potentially infectious aerosol particles, breathing mode and facial leakage.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2023Article
- Evaluating the effects of air disinfectants in decontamination of COVID-19 aerosols.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Wind of change: Better air for microbial environmental control.Case studies in chemical and environmental engineering · 2022Article
- Review
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of UV-C dose for photoinactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in contaminated N95 respirator, surgical and cotton fabric masks.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2022Article
- UV-C Light Completely Blocks Aerosol Transmission of Highly Contagious SARS-CoV-2 Variants WA1 and Delta in Hamsters.Environmental science & technology · 2022Article
- Elucidating the role of environmental management of forests, air quality, solid waste and wastewater on the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2.Hygiene and environmental health advances · 2022Review
- Inactivation of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 by 254 nm UV-C irradiation.Indoor air · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aerosol transmission is now widely accepted as the principal way that COVID-19 is spread, as has the importance of ventilation-natural and mechanical. But in other than healthcare facilities, mechanical ventilation is designed for comfort, not airborne infection control, and cannot achieve the 6 to 12 room air changes per hour recommended for airborne infection control. More efficient air filters have been recommended in ventilation ducts despite a lack of convincing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads through ventilation systems. Most transmission appears to occur in rooms where both an infectious source COVID-19 case and other susceptible occupants share the same air. Only two established room-based technologies are available to supplement mechanical ventilation: portable room air cleaners and upper room germicidal UV air disinfection. Portable room air cleaners can be effective, but performance is limited by their clean air delivery rate relative to room volume. SARS-CoV-2 is highly susceptible to GUV, an 80-year-old technology that has been shown to safely, quietly, effectively and economically produce the equivalent of 10 to 20 or more air changes per hour under real life conditions. For these reasons, upper room GUV is the essential engineering intervention for reducing COVID-19 spread.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.