National UV light study in homeless shelters
A national study has been launched to assess the feasibility and efficacy of using ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation to prevent transmission of tuberculosis in homeless shelters.
Guidelines and proposed rules by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, respectively, include UV lights as a possible adjunct measure rather than a principal control. On the other hand, proponents of UV which has been shown to kill TB particles in the air in lab studies have long argued that it may be the most effective control measure in settings where other infection control approaches are difficult to implement.
"This project is intended to determine efficacy once and for all," says Philip W. Brickner, MD, one of the project organizers and chairman of the department of Community Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center of New York.
Homeless shelters in New York City and Birmingham, AL, are participating in the project, and shelters in four other cites are slated to join them as data are gathered over the next five years. Designed at St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, MA, the project may lead to guidelines for using UV equipment in shelters and other settings.
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