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Abstract

Biological fluids, e.g. bodily fluids such as plasma/serum, semen, milk or blood, can be treated efficiently with ozone to inactivate certain viruses, bacteria, fungi etc. To effect and enhance the contact of such fluids with ozone, or another disinfecting or deactivating gas, the fluids are thoroughly nebulized, or atomized, i.e. dispersed into minute droplets. Nebulization has been found to afford a faster O.sub.3 -fluid reaction rate than other known methods. It is proposed to create a fine 'rain' of droplets to fall through a controlled atmosphere of O.sub.3 /O.sub.2 and/or O.sub.3 /inert gas mixture. Electric and magnetic fields are superimposed over the space through which the droplets are passed. Three types of nebulizers/atomizers are described: compressed gas (O.sub.3 /O.sub.2 mixture) atomizer, ultrasonic nebulizer, and rotary nebulizer. The invention was tested on coliphage MS2 which is safe, easy to handle, and more resistant to chemical disinfections than viruses such as HIV. More than 7 log.sub.10 reduction in the virus viability was observed.

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First Claim