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News that ultraviolet light can kill coronaviruses triggered a stroll of AmericansPurchase of personal UV sterilizer chopsticks and other UV emitting devices online for home use. Perhaps you even bought one of these gadgets in the hope that it sterilize your phone, your keyboard or even your skin with the pressure of a button. But the truth is that if you use UV LIGHT to try to kill the coronavirus at home, it probably does not work. At best, these devices are not effective; and at worst, UVC, the wavelength ofUltraviolet light that is effective as disinfectant, could be extremely dangerous, according to scientists and engineers.

UV lightiseffective in that thisDamage DNA or RNA of Viruses,Donald Schaffner, Doctorate, specialist in extension in food sciences and professor at the University of Rutgers, said in an interview withToday."If you damage the virus nucleic acid, it can not infect," he explained.

But since humans consist of a genetic material, the UV light of the intensity necessary to kill viruses can cause severe skin burns, skin cancer and eye damage, according to the International Ultraviolet Association. That's why they published the following warning in April: "There is no protocol to advise you or allow theSafe use of UV light directly on the human body At wavelengths and proven exposures to efficiently kill viruses such as SARS-COV0-2. "

But what you may not know is that there is no guarantee that theBanders and UV lamps You bought for your home work, according toJacob Scott, MD, research physician in the Department of Research on Translational Hematology and Oncology at Cleveland Clinic.

"UVC kills the virus, the period, but the problem is that you have to have enough dose," said ScottLive science. "Particularly for the N95 masks, which are porous, it takes a pretty big dose" forEliminate SARS-COV-2. What is the size of a dose exactly? 254 nanometers, according to Scott.

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UVC, one of the three common types of UV lightproduced by sunlight, covers a wavelength spectrum from 200 to 270 nanometers. UVA (320 to 400 nanometers) and UVB (280 to 320 nanometers) cause sunburn andpremature aging of the skin and are associated with the development of skin cancer.

UVC Midrange, between 250 and 254, has been proved that protozoa bacteria, viruses and parasites. UVC emitting robots are used to disinfect hospital floors, banks use UVC light to disinfect money and New York, metros are disinfected byMachines emitting UV light.

UVC at a wavelength of 254 nanometers has been shown atInactivated H1N1 Influenza and other coronaviruses. And a new study of researchers to the Henry Ford Health in Detroit and at the University of Michigan, which has not yet been examined by peers, revealed thatUV-C 254 also eliminates SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

In addition to the lower dosage of UV light devices at home, another reason it isHard to clean up phones using UV light Do the buttons and crevices offer places for the virus to hide and avoid being touched by the rays. Hospitals, on the other hand, have the equipment and expertise to determine the good dose of UV light needed to kill pathogens. This type of quality control is impossible to duplicate at home. Thus, UV devices can give people a false sense of assurance that Sars-Cov-2 has been destroyed when it has not been.

"To have something you think is clean, but it's not, it's worse than something you know is dirty" because it affects your behavior towards the object, Scott saidLive science.

While coronavirus killed personal UVC lights that are both safeandEffective can be long, scientists make progress in the development of industrial size systems using UV light in the 207-222 nanometric wavelength range that are not damaged by human skin. Called "far UVC", these rays can inactivate airborne aerosolized viruses, which are microscopic, but can not penetrate the largest exterior layers of the skin or human eyes, damage to deeper living cells.

An July study of researchers at Columbia Irving Medical Center has found that 99.9% of seasonal coronaviruses floating in airborne droplets were killed when exposed to thisSpecial wavelength of ultraviolet light It's safe to use humans.

"On the basis of our results, the continuous disinfection in the air suspension with the UVC light on the current regulatory limit could significantly reduce the level of airborne virus in indoor environments occupied by persons", the Senior author of the studyDavid Brenner, PhD, Director of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said in a statement.

A separate continuous study in Columbia tests the effectiveness of the distant rays on the airborne SARS-COV-2 specifically, with preliminary success. "The distant light does not really discriminate between the types of coronavirus, we were expecting to kill Sars-Cov-2 in the same way," Brenner said. "Since Sars-Cov-2 spreads largely via droplets and aerosols that are coughing or sneezed in the air, it is important to have a tool capable of securely inactivating the virus when it is in the air, especially while people are around. "

Brenner believes that Light by far UVC could possibly be used in gymnasiums, restaurants, theaters, schools, planes, buses or anywhere gather, in combination with other security measures, likewearing face masks and washing hands, to limit the transmission of viruses like the one that causes Covid-19. To learn more about COVID-19, check25 myths of coronavirus you have to stop believing, according to doctors.