Is Peracetic Acid Fumigation Effective in Public Transportation?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic made more people aware of the danger of viruses and bacteria, which is why disinfection began to be used more and more often. Epidemiological safety must be ensured not only in gathering places, but also in home and work environments. It is especially challenging in public transportation, which is a perfect environment for the spread of infectious disease. Therefore, the aim of the study was the identification of bacteria in crowded places and the evaluation of the effect of fumigation with peracetic acid (PAA) in public transportation. Inactivation of microorganisms in buses and long-distance coaches was carried out using an automatic commercial fogging device filled with a solution of peracetic acid stabilized with acetic acid (AA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Before and after disinfection, samples were taken for microbiological tests. The most prevalent bacteria were Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus licheniformis.Staphylococcus epidermidis was only present in buses, whereas Staphylococcus hominis and Exiguobacterium acetylicum were only present in coaches. Statistical analysis showed a significant reduction in the number of microorganisms in samples taken from different surfaces after disinfection in vehicles. The overall effectiveness of disinfection was 81.7% in buses and 66.5% in coaches. Dry fog fumigation with peracetic acid is an effective method of disinfecting public transport vehicles.

An overview of the bacterial microbiome of public transportation systems—risks, detection, and countermeasures

“…The nebulization of chemicals, e.g., hydrogen peroxide has been in use ( 52 , 53 ). There are also different forms of fumigation, that even consider the application in public transport ( 54 ). Here, peracetic acid stabilized with acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide showed an effectiveness of disinfection of 81.7% in busses, and even worked against highly resistant spores.…”

“…The effectiveness of fumigation is highly dependent on the materials to be disinfected (54,56), e.g., the effect of fogged peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide was shown to be particularly high on glass windows and doors, and low on fabric materials (56). Further, the efficacy depends on the type of microorganism, the fumigation device and technology and the substance (57)(58)(59).…”

A systematic review of COVID-19 transport policies and mitigation strategies around the globe

“… Bohman et al, (2021) propose the use of open spaces for holding events that require the attendance of many people. Other studies analyze the effect and compliance with government impositions in transportation systems such as the use of the mask ( Kumar et al, 2022 ) and the disinfection of units ( Kruszewska et al, 2022 ). F. Chen et al (2021) analyze alternatives for the boarding and disembarking of passengers, and propose an interdisciplinary framework to manage strategic visions, to implement systems to improve urban quality of life, and to inform managers and citizens about the spread of the virus.…”

Virucidal activity of three standard chemical disinfectants against Ebola virus suspended in tripartite soil and whole blood

“…Intriguingly, they discovered an outbreak variant dependency where the Makona variant from the West African outbreak of 2014-2016 was less susceptible to weaker concentrations of NaOCl and inactivation in 70 % ethanol took longer than the Central African variants Kikwit and Mayinga (the prototype strain obtained during the rst recorded EVD outbreak in 1976) 3 . Although disinfection of EBOV with NaOCl is standard operating procedure, peracetic acid (PAA) is increasingly preferred over NaOCl for certain disinfection purposes, e.g., wastewater treatment 4 , and it is also commonly used in fogging systems to decontaminate hospitals 5 , schoolrooms 6 , and public transport vehicles 7 . Liquid PAA has also been used to decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) during hospital treatment of a laboratory worker exposed to EBOV in Hamburg, Germany 8 .…”