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Bacteriophage; nitrogen laser; near ultraviolet; photoinactivation; photosensitization; virucidal

The nitrogen laser (λ = 337.1 nm) was documented to have photosensitized inactivation of bacteriophages P1 and phage A havingEscherichia coli andSalmonella typhi as their respective hosts. Methylene blue and crystal violet had a direct virucidal effect whereas toluidine blue revealed accentuated lethal effect on photosensitization with N₂ laser for both of the bacteriophages taken in the study. The other dyes such as congo red, neutral red, auramin O and safranine showed differences in their virucidal activity among the two bacteriophages. However, malachite green did not show any change for the two viruses both by itself and on irradiation with the laser. A possibility of photosensitizing effect of N₂ laser for the therapy of viral infections needs to be explored.

Ruchi Sachdeva¹ N S Bhagwanani¹ D S Chitnis^{1 2}

1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Choithram Hospital and Research Centre, Indore - 452 001, India
2. Department of Pathology, Choithram Hospital and Research Centre, Indore - 452 001, India

Published

March 1999

Manuscript received

23 June 1998

Accepted

15 December 1998