Microwaves & Viruses
Synopsis:
It seems that low energy, low frequency microwaves enhance the growth of microorganisms while high energy, high frequency microwaves destroy the microorganisms.
Microwaves are non-ionizing electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 0.3 and 300 GHz. Both humans and microorganisms living on the human body are exposed to significant doses of microwave radiation in everyday life. Whether and how microwave radiation could influence the viability and growth of microorganisms is the subject of this educational paper. Studies on the effects of microwaves on the growth of microbial cultures were searched for in biomedical journals indexed in MEDLINE from 1966 to 2012. The published studies showed that microwaves produce significant effects on the growth of microbial cultures, which vary from the killing of microorganisms to enhancement of their growth. The nature and extent of the effect depend on the frequency of microwaves and the total energy absorbed by the microorganisms. Low energy, low frequency microwaves enhance the growth of microorganisms, whereas high energy, high frequency microwaves destroy the microorganisms. However, neither the effects of a wide spectrum of frequencies nor the effects of a wide range of absorbed energies have been investigated. Considering the potentially deleterious influence of microwaves on the symbiotic balance between microorganisms and the human host, further research on the effects of the complete frequency and energy spectra of microwave radiation on the growth of microorganisms is necessary.
Many studies show that microwave radiation can have significant effects on the growth of microbial cultures, which can vary from killing of microorganisms to enhancement of their growth. The nature and extent of the effects depend on the microwave frequency and the total energy absorbed by the microorganisms. It seems that low energy, low frequency microwaves enhance the growth of microorganisms, while high energy, high frequency microwaves destroy the microorganisms. However, neither the effects of a wide spectrum of frequencies nor the effects of a wide range of absorbed energies were investigated. Considering the potentially deleterious influence of microwaves on the symbiotic balance between microorganisms and the human host, there is a high demand for further research on the effects of the complete frequency and energy spectra of microwave radiation on the growth of microorganisms.