At what temperature is it possible to neutralize SARS-CoV-2

Arum han, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, and his team of researchers designed an experimental system showing that exposure of SARS-CoV-2 to a very high temperature, even for less than a second, it suffices to neutralize the virus so that it can no longer infect another human host.

The application of heat to neutralize COVID-19 has already been studied, but previous research had applied high temperatures for one to 20 minutes. According to scientists, this period is not a practical solution, since applying heat for a long time is difficult and expensive. Han and his colleagues have now shown that heat treatment for less than a second completely inactivates the coronavirus, offering a possible solution to mitigate the continued spread of COVID-19, particularly through long-range air transmission.

For this reason, the Medistar Corporation approached leaders and researchers at the American College of Engineering last year to collaborate and explore the possibility of applying heat for a short time to kill the pathogen responsible for the disease. COVID-19. Soon after, they got down to business and built a system to study the feasibility of such a procedure.

The process works by heating a section of a stainless steel tube, through which the solution containing the coronavirus passes, to a high temperature, and then cooling the section immediately after.. This experimental setup allows the coronavirus passing through the tube to heat up for a very short period of time. Through this rapid thermal process, the team discovered that the virus was completely neutralized in a much shorter time than previously thought. Their first results were published within two months of the proof of concept experiments.

Han clarified that if the solution is heated to almost 72 degrees Celsius for about half a second, it can reduce the titer of the virus, or the amount of virus in solution, 100,000 times, which is enough to neutralize the virus and prevent transmission.

“The potential impact is hugeSaid Han, a master’s degree holder in biomedical engineering. “I was curious how high the temperatures are that we can apply in such a short time and see if we can actually heat-inactivate the coronavirus in a very short period of time. And whether or not a temperature-based coronavirus neutralization strategy would work from a practical standpoint. The main driver was, can we do something that can alleviate the situation with the coronavirus? Asked the researcher.

The research was published in the scientific journal Biotechnology and bioengineering.

This heat treatment of less than a second is not only a more efficient and practical solution to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the air, but also allows the implementation of this method in existing mechanisms, such as systems. heating, ventilation and air conditioning..

It can also lead to possible applications with other viruses, such as influenza, which also spread through the air. Han and coworkers hope this method of thermal inactivation can be widely applied and have a real global impact, the study authors say.

“The flu is less dangerous, but it is still fatal every year, so if that could lead to the development of an air purification system, it would be a big problem, not only with the coronavirus, but with others. airborne viruses. In general, ”Han added.

In future work, researchers build a microfluidic scale test chip that will allow them to heat treat viruses for much shorter periods of time, for example, tens of milliseconds, in the hope of identifying a temperature that will allow the virus to be inactivated even with such a short exposure time.

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