Ozone treatment in a wind tunnel for the reduction of airborne viruses in swine buildings

Abstract

Ozone is effective against bacteria and viruses although its influence over bioaerosols is understudied and could be useful particularly in agricultural buildings such as swine confinement buildings. Ozone treatment of air within ventilation plenum could be applied for biosecurity purposes during the quarantine of incoming animals. In this study, a bacteriophage (PhiX174) was used as a surrogate for eukaryotic viruses in nebulization experiments inside a wind tunnel to study the factors that affect ozone’s efficacy to reduce the virus. A tunnel system was installed in the workshop of a swine building with controlled relative humidity (40% and 80%), ozone concentration (0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, and 1.8 ppm), and exposure time (up to approximately 6 min) of PhiX174 nebulized. Although there was no effect of ozone on phage genomes, culturable phages were inactivated. There was a reduction of PhiX174 infectious ratios with increasing ozone concentrations and stronger effects of ozone observed at 80% relative humidity. The data suggests the potential success of a wind tunnel and ozone air treatment to control infectious viruses emitted from swine barns or quarantine buildings.Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research