UVCs against Candida Auris

First identified in 2009, Candida auris is responsible for candidiasis that can become invasive or even more severe. With a marked increase in infections in recent years, different disinfection methods are emerging.

Can UVC rays be effective? Why is distance and duration of UVC exposure the primary factor for conclusive results? We answer all of these questions in this article.

What is Candida auris?

Candida auris is a multi-resistant fungal pathogen that causes severe infections in people at risk or immunosuppressed. Sometimes referred to as a “super mushroom”, it now poses several obstacles to medicine:

• It can cause invasive candidiasis;
• It infects the bloodstream and the central nervous system;
• It has a large antibiotic resistance, it is actually very resistant to common antifungals.

As a result, Candida auris has attracted the attention of clinicians and has become an emerging threat in healthcare settings around the world, given the number of infections observed during the 2010s.

The effectiveness of UVC rays against Candida auris

Reliable disinfection protocols specifically designed to inactivate Candida auris are essential. The effectiveness ofultraviolet germicidal irradiation was then studied to inactivate strains of Candida auris. (1)

Indeed, the strains of Candida auris were placed between 2 and 4 meters from UVC sources and exposed to irradiation for 10 to 30 minutes. A significant decrease in the spread of the Candida auris pathogen was demonstrated. Indeed, the density of the pathogen is reduced by more than 40 times its starting density.

The importance of distance and duration of UVC ray exposure

As with any conventional UVC decontaminationprocedure, distance and length of time are factors it is necessary to know about in order to obtain an optimal result.

In the case of Candida auris particularly, these parameters are all the more critical to be ableto inactivate ultra-resistant strains and limit their spread.

What is the right dose of UVC exposure?

When inactivating potentially pathogenic germs, there are several factors to consider for ultraviolet germicidal irradiation:

• The duration of exposure of a strain;
• The intensity of exposure to UVC rays;
• The distance from the UVC source.

The exposure dose is calculated based on the intensity of the radiation and the time of exposure. And it has been shown that it would take only 30 minutes of UVC exposure, at a distance of 2 meters, to inactivate the Candida auris strain.

Other tests were conducted over longer distances of up to 4 metres and determined a marked decrease in the effectiveness of UVC rays in the complete inactivation of Candida auris.

This proves once again how important it is to use devices capable of estimating the right dose of exposure in accordance with the distance of the pathogenic germ to be eradicated.

To find out where to use PuriTechs devices.