Last Updated: Mar 8, 2021 St. John Vuetilovoni
Published: Mar 26, 2020
Sanitizing our homes, workplaces and public spaces is a key tactic in the fight against Coronavirus, to stop the spread of COVID-19. One method of sterilization is by using ozone. Ozone sterilization is commonly used in hospitals to sanitize equipment and significantly reduce or eliminate the spread of bacteria. Hence the question being asked is – “Can ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease?”
This blog post looks at the evidence and highlights the benefits of sterilizing environments with ozone, as well as it’s associated risks.
OZONE STERILIZATION PROVEN TO KILL SARS-COV VIRUS
There are currently no examples in the public domain, of ozone sterilization being used to kill the current strain of Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (technical name of the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease). However, there are reasons to believe it would be effective:
During the SARS epidemic of 2003, ozone sterilization was successfully used to purify environments infected with the deadly Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1, the virus which causes the SARS disease.
As SARS-Cov-1 is also a member of the Coronavirus family, it is highly likely that ozone sterilization would be effective at killing SARS-CoV-2, the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease.
HOW DOES OZONE STERILIZATION KILL CORONAVIRUSES?
Coronaviruses are classified as “enveloped viruses”, which are typically more susceptible to “Physico-chemical challenges”. In other words, they don’t like being exposed to ozone.
Ozone destroys this type of virus by breaking through the outer shell into the core, resulting in damage to the viral RNA. Ozone can also damage the outer shell of the virus in a process called oxidation.
Put simply, exposing Coronaviruses to sufficient ozone dose (ppm x time) can result in them being 99% damaged or destroyed.
TESTS CONCLUDE OZONE CAN KILL CORONAVIRUS
Dr. Brill + Dr. Steinmann from the Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology conducted this test on 5/19/2010. Here is what they found – “The conclusion can be drawn that after passing examinations with MVA [in Europe, MVA represents the official model virus for all enveloped viruses] an activity against all enveloped viruses including members of the virus family coronaviridae (like MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2) is achieved”.
The ozone sterilization process is simple. Firstly, vacate the environment to be sterilized, roll in an ozone sterilization product, set it to add the appropriate quantity of ozone to the environment. After which it is vital that you monitor when it is safe to re-enter the space.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF OZONE STERILIZATION?
Breathing ozone can be harmful. Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, and aggravation of lung diseases like asthma. Many countries have set an 8-hour exposure limit of 70 ppb (parts per billion) ozone.
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