Global Journal of Medical Research, F: Diseases, Volume 23 Issue 2

© 2023. Yoshinori Kubo, Takanori Miura, Kaoru Obinata, Ken Hisata, Mitsuyoshi Suzuki, Eisuke Inage, Naotake Yanagisawa, Hiromichi Shoji, Norio Ogata, Jo Shibata, Takashi Shibata & Toshiaki Shimizu. This research/review article is distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). You must give appropriate credit to authors and reference this article if parts of the article are reproduced in any manner. Applicable licensing terms are at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Global Journal of Medical Research: F Diseases Volume 23 Issue 2 Version 1.0 Year 2023 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Online ISSN: 2249-4618 & Print ISSN: 0975-5888 Relationship between COVID-19 and use of Chlorine Dioxide Gas- Releasing Agents in Elementary Schools By Yoshinori Kubo, Takanori Miura, Kaoru Obinata, Ken Hisata, Mitsuyoshi Suzuki, Eisuke Inage, Naotake Yanagisawa, Hiromichi Shoji, Norio Ogata, Jo Shibata, Takashi Shibata & Toshiaki Shimizu Juntendo University Abstract- Chlorine dioxide has an inactivating effect on various types of viruses in vitro, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Therefore, chlorine dioxide gas can be used as a new preventive measure against coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). However, no studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between the incidence of COVID-19 and chlorine dioxide. We retrospectively studied the occurrence of COVID-19 in 164 public elementary schools under the jurisdiction of boards of education located in urban areas in Japan, provided with chlorine dioxide gas-releasing agents or not, from January to March 2022. The odds of developing COVID-19 were lower (odds ratio: 0.934, 95% confidence interval: 0.895–0.975) in schools provided with chlorine dioxide gas-releasing agents than in schools without them. This suggested a relationship between the use of chlorine dioxide-releasing agents and the incidence of COVID-19. Further studies are needed to prove a causal relationship between them. Keywords: chlorine dioxide, COVID-19, infection prevention, elementary school, viral infectivity. GJMR-F Classification: DDC Code: E RelationshipbetweenCOVID19anduseofChlorineDioxideGasReleasingAgentsinElementarySchools Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: