Ozone Efficacy for the Disinfection of Ambulances Used to Transport Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Peru

Miguel Alejandro Gómez-Castillo, Cristina Rivera Romero, Kevin Reátegui-Ochoa, Enrique Mamani Zapana and Marcial Silva-Jaimes ()
Additional contact information
Miguel Alejandro Gómez-Castillo: Laboratorio de Microbiología de Alimentos, Facultad de Industrias Alimentarias, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima 15024, Peru
Cristina Rivera Romero: Facultad de Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima 15024, Peru
Kevin Reátegui-Ochoa: Laboratorio de Microbiología de Alimentos, Facultad de Industrias Alimentarias, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima 15024, Peru
Enrique Mamani Zapana: Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima 15081, Peru
Marcial Silva-Jaimes: Laboratorio de Microbiología de Alimentos, Facultad de Industrias Alimentarias, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima 15024, Peru

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 10, 1-8

Abstract: We assessed the disinfection efficacy of an ozone generator prototype in ambulances used to transport patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This research consisted of three stages: in vitro tests using microbial indicators, such as Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella phage , which were experimentally inoculated onto polystyrene crystal surfaces within a 23 m 3 enclosure. They were then exposed to ozone at a 25 ppm concentration using the ozone generator (Tecnofood SAC) portable prototype, and the decimal reduction time (D) was estimated for each indicator. The second stage involved the experimental inoculation of the same microbial indicators on a variety of surfaces inside conventional ambulances. The third stage consisted of exploratory field testing in ambulances used to transport patients with suspected COVID-19. During the second and third stages, samples were collected by swabbing different surfaces before and after 25 ppm ozonisation for 30 min. Results suggested that ozone was most effective on Candida albicans (D = 2.65 min), followed by Escherichia coli (D = 3.14 min), Salmonella phage (D = 5.01 min) and Staphylococcus aureus (D = 5.40 min). Up to 5% of the microbes survived following ozonisation of conventional ambulances. Of the 126 surface samples collected from ambulances transporting patients with COVID-19, 7 were positive (5.6%) for SARS-related coronavirus as determined on reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Ozone exposure from the ozone generator prototype inside ambulances at a concentration of 25 ppm for 30 min can eliminate gram positive and negative bacteria, yeasts, and viruses.

Keywords: disinfection; ozone; SARS-CoV-2; RT-qPCR; ambulances; surface sampling; hospital pathogens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/10/5776/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/10/5776/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:10:p:5776-:d:1143367

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().