A Call to Action in an Era of Pandemics and Multidrug-Resistant Organisms
Germicidal UV (GUV) may have a long scientific history in healthcare, but its role still is not fully defined or widely embraced, particularly for air disinfection. With the rise of 222 nm “Far UV”, interest in GUV as a tool for reducing healthcare-associated infections, including airborne transmission, began to increase.
Thanks to COVID-19, Candida auris and other multidrug-resistant organisms, we now know how the pandemic strained healthcare workers and systems. We must understand that healthcare, public health, and industry should not wait for the next crisis; instead, we should honestly assess what was learned during the pandemic and use that knowledge to prepare better, including by studying and deploying UV more deliberately.
GUV has promise across surface disinfection, air disinfection, device decontamination, water treatment, and some procedural settings, but important questions remain about real-world effectiveness, study design, safety, material compatibility, cost-effectiveness, and how UV should be combined with ventilation or chemical disinfection. Ultimately, we must call for a disciplined, evidence-based collaboration among clinicians, researchers, public health experts, and industry to define the best uses of GUV before the next pandemic or severe infection-control challenge arrives.
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