Cold and flu season can warrant changes in how you and your family carry out your daily lives in your home. Lysol is frequently sprayed onto surfaces, hand sanitizer is a mainstay in many spaces and boxes of tissue abound. But in the war against viruses and germs, there may be an additional weapon in your arsenal that can make your family even healthier—and it could be something you already own. As it turns out, air purifiers can do a lot more than remove allergens and dust from the air.
What Is an Air Purifier?
Brian Labus, Assistant Professor at the UNLV School of Public Health explains that air purifiers are household devices designed to remove things from the air, like allergens, including pollen, or infectious agents like bacteria and viruses. And there are different types you can choose from based on the particular concern you’d like to address. That’s why it’s key to do some research before purchasing.
“There are different ways to do this, and the design of the air purifier should match the problem you are trying to solve,” Dr. Labus says. “For example, carbon filters can trap smelly gases, but don’t remove solid particles from the air. Also, each air purifier needs to be the appropriate size for the room—one that is too small won’t do much.”
Dr. Labus says that it’s also important to correctly care for an air purifier.
He says, “An air purifier has to be maintained properly to give you any kind of benefit. Dirty filters don’t work well to remove anything. Follow the instructions on your device when it comes to cleaning it and changing filters. And the more you use it, the more often you will need to.”
Can Air Purifiers Prevent Sickness?
Tony Abate, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at AtmosAir Solutions, says that air purifiers can indeed prevent illness, since they remove “the major classes of contaminants” from the air. According to Abate, in addition to things like particles, dust, pollen and spores, they can remove microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and molds from the air.
“All these contaminants can cause allergic symptoms, sickness and irritations, so removing them will produce healthier air,” he says, adding that while most air purifiers are designed to catch and grab contaminants out of the air we breathe, many are “passive,” meaning that airborne contaminants must pass through the filter to be effective.
Dr. Labus additionally explains, “When it comes to air, the goal is to increase ventilation measured in air exchanges per hour,” he says. “While the best option is to open a window and allow fresh air in, this isn’t always feasible based on the weather outside, so air purifiers can play a role in trying to clean the indoor air.”
To increase your chances of mitigating illness, Abate recommends portable air purifiers that feature something called bi-polar ionization technology. These specific air purifiers emit ions into the air that seek, attack and neutralize airborne contaminants that cause illness. Abate adds that portable air purifiers have a wide range of prices, but most quality units cost between $300 and $1,000.
Other Ways to Prevent Sickness in the Home
Even though an air purifier has the potential to reduce sickness in your home, Dr. Labus says that at the end of the day, it’s usually much more effective to deal with the source of the problem. And you shouldn’t solely rely on air purifiers to prevent sickness from spreading in your home.
“It’s better to take out the smelly garbage than to use an air purifier to try to make the kitchen smell nicer, and the same is true for infectious diseases,” he says. “It’s much easier and much more effective to have a sick person wear a mask than it is to try and remove the viruses from the air after they have coughed them out.”
He says that the very best option is to avoid getting sick in the first place by getting the recommended vaccines and regularly washing your hands.