Viricidal efficacy of PlasmaShield against Human Coronavirus 229E

The efficacy of the PlasmaShield device to inactivate aerosolised HCoV229E virus was tested. Purified HCoV229E, at a concentration of 1.93 x 108 TCID50/mL in PBS, was nebulised for 3 min through 21.5 cm of piping prior to the PlasmaShield and 21.5 cm piping after the PlasmaShield. For the baseline/negative control measurement, the PlasmaShield was replaced with an empty case. Surviving virus aerosols were collected in a liquid impinger sampler. The virus concentration was then determined by infectivity of Huh-7 cells and the TCID50/mL calculated. All experiments were conducted in triplicate. The baseline experiment (empty PlasmaShield case) detected 7.85 x 106 TCID50/mL HCoV229E. This was reduced by approximate a 1.5 x log10 (95% reduction) to 3.9 x 105 TCID50/mL HCoV229E with the PlasmaShield turned on.