MONDAY, March 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Ultraviolet (UV) filtration in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is associated with alteration in environmental microbial diversity, which may yield an improvement in asthma severity, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from Feb. 27 to March 2 in Philadelphia.
Kaleb Ware, M.D., from the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues hypothesized whether UV filtration in HVAC could affect household environmental microbial diversity in a study involving pediatric patients with asthma. Patients were randomly assigned to receive UV filtration (CREON2000A) or a sham device in the HVAC units. At the time of device placement and after 12 months, dust samples were collected from household carpets of enrollees. Changes in bacterial alpha/beta diversity and species relative abundance were examined in 14 paired dust samples (seven with UV filtration; seven with sham device) and were correlated with the primary end point of Composite Asthma Severity Index (CASI).
The researchers observed no discernible difference in alpha/beta diversity or differential species abundance comparing UV filtration versus sham conditions. The relative abundance of certain organisms commonly associated with the oral microbiome (Fusobacterium nuculatum and Veillonella parvula) had a logfold >2 decrease per one-unit improvement in CASI from baseline to follow-up for homes with the CREON2000A device. CASI improvement was also associated with enrichment of several common gut commensals.
"We created a pilot study that highlights the potential of bacterial changes in the setting of HVAC-based ultraviolet light to affect asthma symptom modulation and control," Ware said in a statement.
One author was employed by General Innovations and Goods Inc.