Heat and Virus:
While viruses are not considered living organisms, they depend upon living cells to replicate. The structure of the virus includes an envelope constituted by proteins and genetic material of DNA or RNA. All of these components are thermo-sensible. The genetic material and the proteins have complex structures regulating their function, and change in this structure may result in a loss of function known as denaturizing. There are two basic means by which denaturing occurs: a change in PH or temperature.
Some examples: viruses and heat inactivation:
Numerous studies have focused on virus inactivation through heat application. For example, HIV virus in the blood will die when exposed to 77 degrees Celsius¹ for as little as 0.006 seconds¹. In another study, parvovirus and phage phiX174 were completely inactivated when exposed to 103 degrees Celsius for 90 seconds². In the case of the Herpes virus, high temperatures inhibit the release of proteins necessary for the success of the infection³.
Airborne viruses are no different. One study of respiratory sincytyal virus (the major cause of wheezing in children less than 2 years old) showed that when the virus is exposed to 65 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes, the infection capacity is diminished and conformational proteins are transformed, resulting in a reduction of substances responsible for the inflammation, hyper-responsiveness and damage to airpassages4. The SARS virus (causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome) has thermo-sensible proteins in its envelope, which can be totally denaturized at 55 degrees Celsius, the same temperature at which SARS virus was also reported to be inactivated5. The influenza virus contains proteins essential for infectious transmission that are sensible to variations of pH and temperature between 55-70 degrees Celsius6.
Airfree® and its TSS™ Ceramic Core
Here, we have listed only a few examples of virus inactivation by heat and in all those cases the temperatures were below the Airfree’s TSS™ ceramic core internal temperature of 204 degrees Celsius. Since 1977, studies have shown that the higher the temperature, the faster the proteins get denatured7. Therefore, we may infer that the Airfree purifier may be efficient inactivating virus proteins in most cases, resulting in lack of infection ability.
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