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Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV-C) light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions. UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water purification. UV-C light is weak at the Earth's surface as the ozone layer of the atmosphere blocks it. UVGI devices can produce strong enough UV-C light in circulating air or water systems to make them inhospitable environments to microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, molds and other pathogens. UVGI can be coupled with a filtration system to sanitize air and water. The application of UVGI to disinfection has been an accepted practice since the mid-20th century. It has been used primarily in medical sanitation and sterile work facilities. Increasingly it has been employed to sterilize drinking and wastewater, as the holding facilities are enclosed and can be circulated to ensure a higher exposure to the UV. In recent years UVGI has found renewed application in air purifiers. ==History== In 1878, Arthur Downes and Thomas P. Blunt published a paper describing the sterilization of bacteria exposed to short-wavelength light. By 1903, it was discovered that wavelengths around 250 nm were most effective for inactivation of bacteria. UV has been a known mutagen at the cellular level for more than one-hundred years. The 1903 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Niels Finsen for his use of UV against lupus vulgaris, tuberculosis of the skin. Using UV light for disinfection of drinking water dates back to the year 1910 in Marseille, France.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ultraviolet light disinfection in the use of individual water purification devices )〕 The prototype plant was taken out of service after only a short time, due to reliability problems. In 1955, UV water treatment systems were applied in Austria and Switzerland; by 1985 about 1,500 plants were in use in Europe. In 1998 it was discovered that protozoa such as cryptosporidium and giardia were more vulnerable to UV light than previously thought; this opened the way to wide-scale use of UV water treatment in North America. By 2001, over 6,000 UV water treatment plants were operating in Europe.〔 Over the years, UV costs have declined as researchers develop and use new UV methods to disinfect water and wastewater. Currently, several countries have developed regulations that allow systems to disinfect their drinking water supplies with UV light. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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