In an exciting new breakthrough, scientists have managed to use ultraviolet light to kill the airborne flu virus without causing harm to humans in the process, an important breakthrough in the medical community. Researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center believe that this means UVC lamps could be put in hospitals, airports, and other places where the flu can be spread to lower the rate of transmission.

Considering the fact that the flu kills tens of thousands of people per year, and sends hundreds of thousands more to hospitals, it could potentially save a lot of lives and a huge amount of money on medical costs. Traditional UV lamps work on a spectrum of wavelengths from 200 to 400 nanometers, which can cause damage to human skin and cells, but far-UVC light has a limited range and cannot penetrate the skin.

The flu is spread through droplets that are suspended in the air, as infected people cough or sneeze, causing the virus to turn into an aerosol that people can breathe in. Researchers found that using a 222 nanometer far-UVC light was effective at killing influenza in aerosol form.

“If our results are confirmed in other settings, it follows that the use of overhead low-level far-UVC light in public locations would be a safe and efficient method for limiting the transmission and spread of airborne-mediated microbial diseases, such as influenza and tuberculosis,” said study leader David J. Brenner, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Radiation Biophysics at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia.