Live virus survives excimer laser ablation.

Abstract

To determine whether live virus can withstand excimer laser ablation and pose a possible health hazard to medical personnel. Experimental study. Fibroblasts infected with oral polio vaccine virus were ablated with an excimer laser. The plume was collected using a smoke evacuator and bubbled through viral culture media. The inlet tube from the smoke evacuator was swabbed and cultured for virus. Liquid from the bubble trap was also cultured. Live virus was shown in the material trapped from the laser plume. Oral polio vaccine virus can survive excimer laser ablation. Whether other more clinically relevant viruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus, can withstand ablation and remain infectious remains to be determined.