Available online 8 March 2023

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental bacteria resistant to many common disinfectants and ultraviolet radiation. Inhalation of aerosols generated from NTM-containing water and soil causes NTM lung disease, especially in people with underlying lung diseases and decreased immunity. To prevent healthcare-acquired NTM infections, it is important to eradicate NTM living in hospital environments. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of gaseous ozone for the inactivation of NTM, namely Mycobacterium (M.) avium, M. intracellulare, M. kansasii, M. abscessus and M. massiliense. Gaseous ozone treatment at 1 ppm for 3 h reduced the bacterial number of all strains by more than 97%. Gaseous ozone treatment could be a practical, effective and convenient disinfection method for NTM living in hospital environments.

KM designed the study and did the experiments, and analyzed and interpreted the data. TN designed the study, and analyzed and interpreted the data. SK did the experiments and interpreted the data. NH designed the study and interpreted the data. All authors contributed to the writing of the final manuscript. All authors meet the ICMJE authorship criteria.

Dream Medical Partners Co., Ltd. provided funding for the research. However, the sponsor had no role in the execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

This study was completed as part of our collaborative research with Dream Medical Partners Co., Ltd. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan).

We thank Tamura TECO Co., Ltd. (Higashiosaka-shi, Osaka, Japan) for technical assistance.

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© 2023 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.