ULTRAVIOLET lights can reduce the spread of tuberculosis in hospital wards and waiting rooms by close to 70%, it was reported
that according to a new study, published in PLoS Medicine Monday. The study, which explored the transmission of
tuberculosis (TB) from
infected patients to guinea pigs, suggests that installing simple (UVC) lights in hospitals could help reduce the transmission of TB, including drug-resistant strains. Yearly, over nine million people are infected with tuberculosis and nearly close to two million people die from the disease, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Infection rates are particularly high in places where vulnerable people are crowded together.
To reach their conclusions, scientists hung UVC lights in a hospital ward in Lima, where 69 patients with HIV and TB were being treated. The researchers pumped air from the ward up to a guinea pig enclosure on the roof of the hospital for close to 535 consecutive days. The guinea pigs were split into three groups of approximately 150; the first group received air exposed to the UV lights in the ward, the second group received ward air treated with negative ionisers, and the third control group was given untreated air straight from the ward. The guinea pigs were given skin tests for tuberculosis once a month.
When the tuberculosis patient coughs, bacteria are sprayed into the air in tiny droplets, floating around the room and infecting other patients. These bacteria can be killed by hanging a shielded UVC light from the ceiling with a fan to mix the air, say the researchers, from Imperial College London, the University of Leeds, Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, Lima, and other international institutions. By the end of the experiment, 35 per cent of the control group were infected with TB, compared to 14 per cent of the ionised air group and 9.5 per cent of the UVC group. 8.6% of the control group developed the active form of the disease after being infected with TB, compared to close to 4.3% of the ionised air group and 3.6% of the UVC group.