Can Non-Thermal Microwave Irradiation Inactivate Viruses? A Review with Some Computations.

Authors

Gaspare Galati, Gabriele Pavan

Published in

Viruses. Volume 18. Issue 9. Sep 15, 2026. Epub Sep 15, 2026.

Abstract

The use of non-thermal, human-safe electromagnetic (e.m.) waves in the GHz range to inactivate viruses has been proposed by a few groups. It is allegedly based on a transformation of a microwave photon into a phonon, which would produce a so-called Structure Resonance Energy Transfer (SRET) strong enough to break the capsid due to Confined Acoustic Vibration (CAV) at virus-specific frequencies. However, it is well known that e.m. photons' absorption in water or in organic media does not generate single phonons at the same frequency. Rather, it generates many thermal phonons across a wide frequency spectrum according to the widely known microwave heating effect, as exploited, inter alia, in the microwave oven. However, there remains interest in proposed usages of non-thermal microwave fields to inactivate respiratory viruses for air sanitization purposes. Hence, this paper poses the question: can human-safe microwave irradiation inactivate viruses?

PMID:
42797853
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Sep 2026.

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