Addressing personal protective equipment (PPE) decontamination: Methylene blue and light inactivates severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on N95 respirators and medical masks with maintenance of integrity and fit

Thomas Sean Lendvay, Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington, United States.
James Chen, Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Brian H. Harcourt, Viral Special Pathogens Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Florine E. Scholte, Department of Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Immunology, CRCHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada.
Ying Ling Lin, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
F Selcen Kilinc-Balci, National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Molly M. Lamb, Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States.
Kamonthip Homdayjanakul, Center for Global Health, Colorado School of Public Health, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States.
Yi Cui, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States.
Amy Price, The Anesthesia, Informatics and Media (AIM) Lab, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States.
Belinda Heyne, Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Jaya Sahni, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Kareem B. Kabra, Department of Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Yi-Chan Lin, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
David Evans, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Christopher N. Mores, Department of Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Ken Page, Alberta Health Services, Alberta, Canada.
Larry F. Chu, The Anesthesia, Informatics and Media (AIM) Lab, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States.
Eric Haubruge, Gembloux AgroBioTech, Terra Research Center, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.
Etienne Thiry, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Louisa F. Ludwig-Begall, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Constance Wielick, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Tanner Clark, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Thor Wagner, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Emily Timm, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, United States.
Thomas Gallagher, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, United States.
Peter Faris, Alberta Health Services, Alberta, Canada.
Nicolas Macia, Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Cyrus J. Mackie, Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Sarah M. Simmons, W21C Research and Innovation Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Susan Reader, Alberta Health Services, Alberta, Canada.
Rebecca Malott, W21C Research and Innovation Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-1-2022

Journal

Infection control and hospital epidemiology

Volume

43

Issue

7

DOI

10.1017/ice.2021.230

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), underscoring the urgent need for simple, efficient, and inexpensive methods to decontaminate masks and respirators exposed to severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We hypothesized that methylene blue (MB) photochemical treatment, which has various clinical applications, could decontaminate PPE contaminated with coronavirus. DESIGN: The 2 arms of the study included (1) PPE inoculation with coronaviruses followed by MB with light (MBL) decontamination treatment and (2) PPE treatment with MBL for 5 cycles of decontamination to determine maintenance of PPE performance. METHODS: MBL treatment was used to inactivate coronaviruses on 3 N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) and 2 medical mask models. We inoculated FFR and medical mask materials with 3 coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and we treated them with 10 µM MB and exposed them to 50,000 lux of white light or 12,500 lux of red light for 30 minutes. In parallel, integrity was assessed after 5 cycles of decontamination using multiple US and international test methods, and the process was compared with the FDA-authorized vaporized hydrogen peroxide plus ozone (VHP+O) decontamination method. RESULTS: Overall, MBL robustly and consistently inactivated all 3 coronaviruses with 99.8% to >99.9% virus inactivation across all FFRs and medical masks tested. FFR and medical mask integrity was maintained after 5 cycles of MBL treatment, whereas 1 FFR model failed after 5 cycles of VHP+O. CONCLUSIONS: MBL treatment decontaminated respirators and masks by inactivating 3 tested coronaviruses without compromising integrity through 5 cycles of decontamination. MBL decontamination is effective, is low cost, and does not require specialized equipment, making it applicable in low- to high-resource settings.

Department

Global Health

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS