Professional vacuum systems insights

How to reduce virus cross-contamination of medical vacuum suction pumps with virus and bacteria filters

Time to read: 1 min.

The following virus types count as coronaviruses: SARS-CoV in 2003; HCoV NL63 in 2004; HKU1 in 2005, MERS-CoV in 2012; SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 (name of disease according to WHO: COVID-19)¹
All the viruses mentioned above have approx. 0.12 µm in diameter
Medela virus filters have been tested using testbacteriophage Phi X17 4 with a diameter of approximately 0.036 µm
Filtration Efficiency of Medela virus filters is greater than 99.99984 % (= probability <1 virus out of 1 '000'000 goes through the filter)

This means using Medela pumps in conjunction with Medela virus and bacteria filters can effectively prevent coronavirus cross-contamination.

Note: Medela bacteria filter can prevent bacteria - with a diameter of 0.8 to 1.2 µm – cross-contamination. However, the Medela bacteria filters will not be sufficient to filter and hence not prevent cross-contamination with SARS-CoV-2.
As an additional information: According to the NBC report², it is recommended by CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to use masks for virus protection that filter particles of a size of 0.3 microns.

The graph below provides evidence for the statements above:

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References

1. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Coronavirus. Virus Group. 2020. Internet: https://www.britannica.com/science/coronavirus-virus-group (retrieved 16.03.2020).

2. Edwards E, Miller SG. What ist he coronavirus? Here’s what we know about it. 2020. Internet: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/what-new-coronavirus-n1119081 (retrieved 16.03.2020).