Ultraviolet lights are being used by hospitals to clean the surgical tools and rooms. They use large, industrial-grade machines to decontaminate rooms. The market now has smaller versions of UV sanitation lights available for consumers as well, to clean everything from phones to toilet seats.
A UV light sanitizer is considered highly effective at killing germs. There are mainly 3 types of UV rays- UVA, UVB, and UVC, out of which UVC rays that have the shortest wavelength ( 200 and 400 manometers) and thus highest energy, can kill bacteria and viruses.
As these rays destroy the molecular bonds holding together the DNA of viruses and bacteria, they are effective in decontamination. It includes contaminating the space from super-bugs that have developed a stronger resistance to antibiotics. So the hospitals use this powerful UVC light regularly to decontaminate surgical tools and hospital rooms.
A study has been done where 21,000 patients were asked to stay overnight in a room which was sanitized using UV light in addition to traditional methods. It was found that this type of cleaning cut transmission of drug-resistant bacteria by 30% as UVC light effectively sanitized difficult to clean nooks and corners.
UV light was observed killed the germs without toxic chemicals even when the bugs are drug resistance including the newly-emerging pathogen strains. UVC lights are available in various forms, including boxes, bottles, and covered wands. And the light purifies water too. Companies have made UVC pen-like devices and UVC bottles to get rid of 99.99% of bacteria and viruses from water particularly for hikers and travelers who are traveling to remote areas where they encounter poor quality water sources.
