The Inactivation of Resistant Candida Albicans in a Sealed Package by Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas

Abstract

AbstractIt remains a challenge to generate cold, atmospheric pressure plasmas in sealed packages for biological disinfection. In this paper, we report a plasma device to form large‐area and atmospheric‐pressure plasmas in a sealed package for the low‐temperature disinfection of fungi. The visually uniform plasmas were easily generated in the portable plastic bag containing Candida albicans with a population of 105 spores placed on the plasma device. The He plasma containing about 1% O2 was found to entirely kill resistant Candida albicans with a treatment time of 5 min. Measurements for optical emission spectra and disinfection efficiencies indicate that the plasma‐created species such as O radicals and charged species play a major role in the inactivation process.magnified image