A practical PPE decontamination method using warm air and ambient humidity

Abstract Personal protective equipment (PPE) remains in short supply. Current decontamination methods are complex, slow, expensive and particularly ill-suited for low to middle income nations where the need is greatest. We propose a low temperature, ambient humidity decontamination method (WASP-D) b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2020-11
Main Authors: Kwiek, Jesse J, Pickett, Christopher R, Flanigan, Chloe A, Lee, Marcia V, Saif, Linda J, Jahnes, Jeff, Blonder, Greg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decontamination
Humidity
Low temperature
Personal protective equipment
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Abstract Personal protective equipment (PPE) remains in short supply. Current decontamination methods are complex, slow, expensive and particularly ill-suited for low to middle income nations where the need is greatest. We propose a low temperature, ambient humidity decontamination method (WASP-D) based on the thirty minute or less half-life of Sars-CoV-2 (and other common pathogens) at temperatures above 45°C, combined with the observation that most PPE are designed to be safely transported and stored at temperatures below 50°C. Decontamination at 12 hours, 46°C (115°F) and ambient humidity should consistently reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral load by a factor of 10−6, without negatively affecting PPE materials or performance. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
DOI:10.1101/2020.11.12.380196