title: Quantitative assessment of the germicidal efficacy of ultrasonic energy.
abstract: Propagated (free-field) ultrasonic energy at a frequency of 26 kHz was used to expose aqueous suspensions of bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), fungus (Trichophyton mentagrophytes), and viruses (feline herpesvirus type 1 and feline calicivirus) to evaluate the germicidal efficacy of ultrasound. There was a significant effect of time for all four bacteria, with percent killed increasing with increased duration of exposure, and a significant effect of intensity for all bacteria except E. coli, with percent killed increasing with increased intensity level. There was a significant reduction in fungal growth compared with that in the controls, with decreased growth with increased ultrasound intensity. There was a significant reduction for feline herpesvirus with intensity, but there was no apparent effect of ultrasound on feline calicivirus. These results suggest that ultrasound in the low-kilohertz frequency range is capable to some degree of inactivating certain disease agents that may reside in water. The physical mechanism of inactivation appears to be transient cavitation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scherba
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development*; D007700:Kinetics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014465:Ultrasonics; D014780:Viruses / Q000254:growth & development*