Effectiveness of decontaminating PPE with methylene blue

Editor's Note

This study led by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, finds that methylene blue with light (MBL) photochemical treatment can be used to decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) contaminated with COVID-19.

MBL robustly and consistently inactivated three coronaviruses, including COVID-19, with 99.8% to >99.9% virus inactivation across all three N95 filtering facepiece respirators and two medical mask models included in the study.

N95 and medical mask integrity was maintained after five cycles of MLB treatment. One N95 model failed after five cycles of the Food and Drug Administration-authorized vaporized hydrogen peroxide plus ozone decontamination method.

The researchers concluded that MBL decontamination is effective, low cost, and requires no specialized equipment.