Japanese Study Shows That Ozone Water Rapidly Inactivates SARS-Cov-2 Coronavirus, Making It An Ideal COVID-19 Disinfectant And Sanitizer

Ozone Water-COVID-19: Japanese researchers from University of Miyazaki in a new study have found that ozone water is able to rapidly inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.


 
Despite ozone water being one of the promising candidates for hand hygiene to prevent fomite infection, the detailed effects of ozone water on SARS-CoV-2 have never been studied and documented till now. The study team evaluated the inactivating effect of ozone water against SARS-CoV-2 by its concentration and exposure time. The reduction rates of virus titer after 5 sec treatment with ozone concentrations of 1, 4, 7, and 10 mg/L were 81.4%, 93.2%, 96.6%, and 96.6%, respectively. No further decrease in virus titer was observed by the extended exposure time over 5 sec. High-concentration ozone water was considered to be effective in promptly inactivating SARS-CoV-2 virus.
 
The study findings have been published on a preprint server and are currently being peer reviewed. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.361766v1
 
As early as February, Thailand Medical News had mentioned about the merits of ozone as a disinfectant. https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/ozone-can-be-used-to-destroy-the-new-coronavirus-and-disinfect-areas

With the COVID-19 expected to be around for the next 5 to 7 years depending on emergence of effective drugs and therapeutics and  how the virus continues to mutates and evolves coupled with the willingness of authorities to accept such treatment protocols (To just explain to readers, there are currently many effective cheap drugs that can be repurposed, supplements, and herbs and phytochemicals that can be used to treat the various symptoms and aspects of COVID-19  and some can also be used as antivirals against specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 but greedy pharmaceutical giants and corrupted governments like the Trump administration and Americans establishments like the U.S. FDA and NIH and even greedy individuals like Dr Anthony Fauci are trying to curtail their usage due to greed along with clandestine groups of businessmen led by individuals like Tom Cahill and politicians like Nick Ayers.) an effective and rapid inactivation tactic against SARS-CoV-2; namely, through the use of ozone water is helpful for many platforms needing disinfecting and sanitizing agents.
 
The dire challenge of limiting transmission of the virus has fueled intensive research into different methods of viral inactivation. At present, most spread is considered to be via respiratory droplets emitted by infected individuals during sneezing, coughing, talking, singing, or even breathing. However, another important route of infection is by fomites that is, contaminated surfaces or objects that have come into contact with the virus via incident infected droplets.
 
In order to prevent fomite transmission, hand cleansing using soap and water, or hand sanitizers containing 60% alcohol, are both recommended by the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To be effective, hand washing should last 40-60 seconds, at least, based on the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Numerous disinfectants have also been proposed to achieve rapid inactivation of the virus after a contact time of 30 seconds or more. One which has recently attracted attention is ozone water, already established as being capable of inactivating some microbes while being innocuous to humans.
 
These days, ozone generators that operate via electrolysis can produce water containing high ozone levels.
 
Japanese researchers conducted this study aimed at measuring the effect of ozone water on SARS-CoV-2 when used at various concentrations and for various contact times.
 
For this study the viral strain (SARS-CoV-2/Hu/DP/Kng/19-027, LC528233 ie  transversions at G11083T of MN908947 strain) used came from a patient on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, in February 2020, while the ozone water was used at concentrations of 1, 4, 7, or 10 mg/L. The contact time between the virus-containing solution and the ozone water was terminated at 5,10, or 20 seconds by adding sodium thiosulfate in an appropriate quantity.
 
After this was done, serial dilutions of the virus solutions were inoculated on Vero cells and incubated for 72 hours, after 2 hours of adsorption. The cultures were then observed for cytopathic effects (CPE) in terms of the number of plaque-forming units (PFUs). Control virus suspension mixed with sterile tap water was also used.
 
The study team observed a marked CPE in the cells inoculated with the control suspension, while there was no discernible effect in the cells incubated with the ozone water-treated viral cultures at n SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, there was a marked cytopathic effect in cells inoculated with viruses without ozone water treatment (ozone water concentration of 7 mg/L ozone).
 
The sterile tap water did not inactivate the virus, but ozone water did in a dose-dependent fashion. The results were compared, following 5 and 10 seconds of reaction at each of the above concentrations.
 
The study findings showed that at concentrations of 1, 4, 7, and 10 mg/L, the ozone water produced a reduction in virus titer by ~81%, 93%, ~97%, and 97%, respectively, after a contact time of 5 seconds. At 10 seconds contact time, the reduction was almost identical.
 
The study team observed that the concentration of ozone produced variations in the reduction in the viral titer. However, beyond 7 mg/L, increasing the concentration of ozone did not produce any significant effect on viral titer. The same is true of a contact time beyond 10 seconds.
 
Corresponding author Dr Shouichi Fujimoto form the department of Hemovascular Medicine and Artificial Organs, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki told Thailand Medical news, “Taken together, ozone water showed a significant antiviral effect on SARS-CoV-2 in a dose-dependent manner. “
 
The research findings concluded that using ozone water containing high concentrations of ozone, at 7 or 10 mg/L, produced effective inactivation of the virus even when inhibitory matter like protein was present in the solution.
 
Importantly even at medium concentrations, such as 4 mg/L, ozone water is only a little less effective than alcohol-based hand sanitizers at hand disinfection. However it is gentler on the skin.
 
Dr Shouichi Fujimoto added, “The fact that higher concentrations of ozone water show stronger inactivating effects on SARS-CoV-2 may be a useful finding when using ozone-based hand disinfectants to prevent fomite infection.”
 
However the question arises as to why a longer contact period failed to increase the inactivation effect. This is probably due to the completion of this effect within 5-10 seconds. However, it is also possible that the assay used is incapable of detecting reduction beyond this limit. A third possibility is that the culture medium diluted the ozone water. This was confirmed by the rapid decrease in ozone concentration to half in about 10 seconds. The effect was especially observed at lower concentrations of ozone.
 
The study findings may be helpful as the world adjusts to the ‘new normal’ of life with COVID-19. An indispensable part of this is washing hands frequently and effectively. This is even more indispensable in healthcare settings, where the environment is often heavily contaminated with the virus.
 
Significantly the possibility of using high-concentration ozone water as a means of inactivating the virus on the hands, and thus preventing fomite transmission, is an important addition to the existing armamentarium of skin-compatible disinfectants such as ethyl alcohol, para-chloro-meta-xylenol, and quaternary ammonium compounds. Not only does this leave the skin undamaged, making it suitable for sensitive skin, but it is sustainable and non-polluting even while it rapidly clears the virus.
 
Thailand Medical News would like to warn all readers that this study finding is based on using ozone water as a COVID-19 disinfectant that can be used on environment surfaces, as hand sanitizers or to sanitize PPEs, personal wear etc. It is not be consumed orally in any way!

(Do not use this article or the reseacher paper without giving due credit or the URL Link)
 
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