In this case the virions in solution need to be destroyed while the components of the biological solution need to be preserved. Caustic chemicals, variations in temperature or pH can adversely affect the integrity of essential proteins or cellular elements, for example, thus impairing biological potency. Ozone is an exemplary agent for deactivating a wide range of viruses while significantly sparing biological integrity of their bathing medium. There is, as concerns ozone, a therapeutic range of administration. Like many other drugs, ozone may be said to have a therapeutic window which defines its optimal levels of administration.
Ozone offer distinct advantages over other antiviral agents.
It is above all, a gas. When a gas is administered to a liquid, an immediate dispersion of the gas takes place, thus effecting reactions in the entire fluid volume. This may be contrasted to any fluid additive, such as hydrogen peroxide or detergents which mix with the fluid being treated much more slowly due to the physics of fluid-fluid dynamics. Furthermore, at the interface of the fluids, the concentrations of the chemicals are inordinately high and potentially toxic. As concerns the viability of cellular elements such as red and white blood cells, the oxidizing potential of ozone may be accurately calibrated so that it is fatal to virions, but innocuous to cells.