Congratulations to the authors for publishing a hot topic review article on the inactivation of viruses with cold atmospheric pressure plasmas. Click for more information.

Highlights:

• Pathogenic viruses are becoming an increasing burden for health, agriculture, and the global economy. Classic disinfection methods have several drawbacks, and innovative solutions for virus inactivation are urgently needed.
• CP can be used as an environmentally friendly tool for virus inactivation. It can inactivate different human, animal, and plant viruses in various matrices.
• When using CP for virus inactivation it is important to set the correct parameters and to choose treatment durations that allow particles to interact with the contaminated material.
• Reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species have been shown to be responsible for virus inactivation through effects on capsid proteins and/or nucleic acids. The development of more accurate methods will provide information on which plasma particles are crucial in each experiment, and how exactly they affect viruses.