Do you know hand sanitizer is the second best option to prevent corona virus (Covid-19),first option
Washing your hands with soap is one of the simplest and most effective ways of killing off any viruses you may have come into contact with.
Hand sanitisers aren’t as effective as soap and water in the fight against coronavirus especially if they are not the right products and aren’t used properly, Hygiene experts, all agree that to kill most viruses, a hand sanitizer requires at least 60% alcohol content (most contain 60-95%).
Sally Bloomfield, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says that viruses are much more resistant to disinfectants than bacteria. Luckily, she says, coronavirus is an envelope virus, meaning it has a coating around it which the alcohol can attack, thereby eliminating the threat. (Norovirus and rhinovirus, by contrast, do not).The best option is soap and water.
According to a 2019 study by the American Society for Microbiology, using running water and soap to wash your hands is more effective than a dab of gel that you have not quite rubbed in.
With the molecular chemistry we can understand why soap and water is superior to fight against Covid -19.
viruses tend to be made up of three things:
A nucleic acid genome (their genetic material: DNA or RNA). Protein, which encases the nucleic acid and aids viral replication inside a host body.
A fatty outer layer of lipids.
The connections between these three component parts provide the structure of the virus, but those connections are weak – there are no covalent bonds in action that would provide a more stable structure.the viral self-assembly is based on weak “non-covalent” interactions between the proteins, RNA and lipids. Together these act together like a Velcro so it is very hard to break up the self-assembled viral particle.
But it’s possible to break up the particle with soap, which is particularly good at dissolving the lipid layer that surrounds the virus. It also undoes all those other weak bonds within the virus. Once that happens, the virus effectively falls apart.
Washing with water alone is far less likely to shift the virus from the skin surface.
Soap contains fat-like compounds called amphiphiles, which are similar to the lipids found in the virus membrane,contains molecules that are actually called “soap molecules.” They contain a hydrophobic (water-hating, or water-fearing) end and a hydrophilic (water-loving) end. When mixed with water, the components of a soap molecule line up so that the water-loving ends are facing out, and the water-hating ends are facing in.
When soap comes into contact with these fatty substances, it binds with them and causes them to disconnect from the virus. It also forces the virus to disengage from the skin.You do have to be vigorous with your hand-washing though. That’s why the advice is that hands should be washed thoroughly for at least 20 seconds.
Other substances are also effective, such as alcohol-based gels. Those with high alcohol content (usually 60% to 80%) will also dissolve the virus. The alcohol acts to disrupt RNA molecules in the virus, preventing viral replication (in other words it blocks the virus from making copies of itself). But soap is slightly superior, as there is the scrubbing part that comes with hand washing with soap and water.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has provided a now highly viewed poster about hand washing technique, which emphasizes not only coating the hands with soap and water, but also includes rubbing the soap into the skin for at least 20 seconds
Photos show why hand sanitizer doesn't work as well as soap and water to remove germs
Using UV light and cream called Glow-Germ a mineral oil that cling to germs is only visible through uv light.
Photos show why handwashing for 20 sec is imortant.
Sanitizer is widely used because it is easy to maintain everywhere, not because it is superior to soap and water.
Reference
