Week Of January 23, 2023

QUESTION: Is it necessary to purchase a HEPA air filter? What about a UV light? What about an ozone generator?

ANSWER: I am putting these three questions together because they all have to do with the same idea: removal of bioaerosols from an ongoing reservoir in indoor air. UV lights are useful if they can be directed for an extended period of time on a given area, such as by a humidification device in an air handler. I see no benefit for shining UV light on air that is moving rapidly as there is inadequate time for the UV light to kill living spores. Similarly ozone generators don’t do a good job if the air flow rate is high. More importantly the idea of killing spores is not one that is based on legitimate science. The problem is that for every living spore that you might find, there are going to be 499 particulates (most commonly 0.45-0.6 microns in size) that are not alive; they are simply fragments of mold organisms or chemicals that will set off inflammatory responses. They are dead but the body’s innate immune response to these bad-actors goes on overdrive if you breathe in these small particles. The reason I don’t encourage the expense of using ozone or UV is that you can’t kill what is already dead.

Here is where HEPA filtration comes in. A 0.3 micron pore size filter will remove these particulates over time. The problem is that researchers like Greg Weatherman have shown us that air flow within a room is subject to tremendous amount of variability due to boundary layers. In an effort to deal with the reduced rate of air flow at the corner of a room compared to the middle of a room I suggest that the HEPA filters that are purchased be inexpensive and portable so that you can move the HEPA filter from location to location within a room every single day. As an aside, this reduced air flow of boundary layers is reason that whole house HEPA filters have limited benefit. As research proceeds in removal of particulates with droplet treatment of the air, our concepts of removing reservoirs of particulates may be changed in the near future. Stay tuned for further developments.

QUESTION: I am using a Mammoth ionizing ozone producing machine but I understand there is concern that ozone machines may not be safe. What do you recommend?

ANSWER: We recommend the I Adapt Air purifier machine from Air Oasis. Please refer to question #1 above for more information.

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QUESTION: I’m a CIRS patient and would like to know what kind of vacuum you recommend. I saw an article on your website mentioning that HEPA vacs may not be so good after all?

ANSWER: I recommend any vacuum as long as it is used in conjunction with an inexpensive air sanitizer and hepa air filtration. See the above Q&As for more information.

QUESTION: I heard mention that CIRS causes capillary hypoperfusion and hypoxia. What causes this?

ANSWER: The cause of illness and treatment are the entire focus of the SM website. A good place to start to learn would be reviewing the 2018 CIRS Consensus Statement