Daikin Industries of Osaka, working with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Vietnam, showed that Daikin’s streamer discharge technology can completely decompose or remove the virulent type A H5N1 bird flu virus in three hours—a world first.

The streamer discharge is a type of plasma discharge that Daikin developed in 2004. This air-purifying technology stably generates high-speed electrons, a feat that had previously proven difficult. With an oxygen decomposing ability more than 1000 times greater than previously used “glow discharge” technology, the streamer discharge technology continuously removes odors, germs, and air pollutants such as formaldehyde.

It has already been demonstrated that streamer discharge effectively deactivates harmful substances such as less-virulent flu viruses (such as type A H1N1), noroviruses, and bacteria that cause food poisoning.

The research demonstration used the TCID 50 test, measuring the extent to which the amount of viruses has decreased; and the CPE test, measuring the extent to which cells have denatured, or lost their structure, after being cultured. While 100% of the bird flu virus stays alive when not exposed to the streamer discharge, it was reported that when exposed to the streamer discharge, about 97% of the bird flu virus was decomposed or removed after an hour, about 99.8% after two hours, and 100% after three hours.