Stopping it from Getting Viral

enveloped_virus-Stopping it from Getting Viral

Stopping it from Getting Viral

One disinfecting has to keep in mind what he is trying to get rid of. Disinfectant choice should always consider the microorganism to be eliminated in the environment. Let’s remember what we need to consider when disinfecting a virus contaminated environment.

Virology 101

First, let’s do a quick recap of what is a virus. A virus is a small infectious agent that can only replicate in another organism. This notion is important, it means that a human virus cannot replicate in food or soil. It is specific to its host. Another important notion about viruses is that they can be either enveloped or not enveloped. The envelope is made of a lipidic barrier originating from the cell the virus replicates in. Regardless of the lipidic membrane virus are made of a protein capsid and genetic material which can either be DNA or RNA.

Non-enveloped_virus-Stopping it from Getting Viral

Resistance to disinfectant

Basically, viruses can be divided in two groups regarding their resistance to disinfectant, those are the enveloped and non-enveloped virus. Non-enveloped virus are less susceptible to disinfectant. For example, norovirus or hepatitis A agent are small non-enveloped viruses. They are known to be resistant to environmental stress, such as temperature, UV, low or high humidity levels and disinfectant.

How to disinfect for virus contamination ?

First thing first, if your disinfectant has a virucidal claim on the bottle you are fine. You can also look for specific claims, however the general claim is sufficient has it was proven to be effective on multiple virus. Usually, a minimum of 1,000 ppm of stabilized sodium hypochlorite or 5,000-10,000 ppm of fast acting hydrogen peroxide is good way to make sure virus in the environment are no more of a threat.

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