Development of Autonomous Advanced Disinfection Tunnel to Tackle External Surface Disinfection of COVID-19 Virus in Public Places.

This paper describes a robust autonomous disinfection tunnel to disinfect external surfaces of COVID-19 virus such as clothes and open body sections in public places such as airports, office complexes, schools, and malls. To make the tunnel effective and highly efficient, it has been provided with two chambers with three disinfection processes. Due to the multiple processes, the possibility of neutralizing the virus is quite high and higher than other solutions available at this point for this purpose. Chamber 1 sprays the solution of a disinfectant on the person. This solution can be either a dilute solution of approved chemical or any Ayurvedic/herbal disinfectant. Once the person enters chamber 2, he/she is exposed to hot air at 70 °C along with far-ultraviolet C rays (207-222 nm). Both chambers function autonomously by detecting a person in a chamber using ultrasonic sensors. The proposed tunnel is developed under industry-academia collaboration jointly by Technopark@iitk and ALIMCO under the ambit of the Ministry of Human Resources Development and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, respectively. The tunnel is referred to as the 'Techno Advanced Disinfection Tunnel' (TADT).

Desinfectantes en aerosol como alternativa de control ambiental de los hongos anemófilos en viviendas / Disinfectant spray as an alternative environmental control of airborne fungi in houses

El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de productos desinfectantes comerciales en aerosol sobre la carga de hongos ambientales en habitaciones de viviendas, teniendo en cuenta que las personas, principalmente los niños, pasan la mayor parte del día en las mismas. Además, se estudió, a través de encuestas, las preferencias del público a la hora de adquirir los desinfectantes comerciales ensayados. El número de UFC/placa fue variable dentro de la misma habitación para las distintas mediciones realizadas antes de la aplicación de los productos desinfectantes. Los porcentajes de inhibición del crecimiento fúngico fueron variables dependiendo del producto desinfectante ensayado y de la habitación muestreada. Dichos porcentajes no fueron diferentes significativamente entre los desinfectantes. Los valores de temperatura estuvieron dentro de un rango de 11 a 19,5 ºC y el porcentaje de humedad relativa varió entre un 64 a 85 por ciento. El 89 por ciento de los encuestados conocía la existencia de desinfectantes ambientales en aerosol. El 78 por ciento conocía el Lysoform®, seguido por Glade® antitabaco y Ayudin®. Dentro de los productos más utilizados, el 54 por ciento de los encuestados indicó el producto Lysoform®. La mayoría de los consumidores eligieron a los desinfectantes por lo que conocen y los medios de comunicación influyeron en el 29 por ciento de los consumidores al momento de elegir el desinfectante. Estos productos ensayados son recomendables en una habitación para disminuir la carga de hongos ambientales y así reducir el efecto perjudicial de estos hongos sobre las personas que la utilizan.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of commercial disinfectant spray on the concentration of airborne fungi in bedrooms, considering that people, especially children, spend most of the day in them. Also, public preferences through surveys were studied when acquiring commercial disinfectants tested. The number of CFU/Petri dish was variable within the same bedroom for the different measurements performed before application of the disinfectant. Percent inhibition of fungal growth were variable, depending on the disinfecting product tested and sampled bedroom. These percentages were not significantly different between the disinfectants. The temperature values were within a range of 11 to 19.5° C and relative humidity percentage ranged from 64 to 85 percent. Eighty nine percent of respondents knew about environmental disinfectant spray. Seventy-eight percent knew about Lysoform®, followed by antismoking Glade® and Ayudin®. Among the most widely used products, 54 percent of respondents said the Lysoform® product was the most used. Most consumers chose known disinfectants and, when choosing a disinfectant, the media influenced 29 percent of consumers. The used products are recommended to be used in a bedroom to decrease the number of airborne fungi and thus reduce the harmful effect of these fungi on the people that use this room.