Disinfectant effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses present on human skin: model-based evaluation

Abstract

Objectives Disinfection effectiveness against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on human skin remains unclear due to the hazards of viral exposure. An evaluation model, which has been previously generated using human skin obtained from forensic autopsy samples, accurately mimics in vivo skin conditions for evaluating the effectiveness of disinfection against the virus. Using this model, we evaluated the disinfection effectiveness against viruses on human skin. Methods Ethanol (EA), isopropanol (IPA), chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), and benzalkonium chloride (BAC) were used as target disinfectants. First, disinfectant effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus (IAV) was evaluated in vitro . Disinfectant effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 and IAV on human skin was then evaluated by titrating viruses present on the skin after applying each disinfectant on the skin for 5-60 s. Results Both, SARS-CoV-2 and IAV on human skin were completely inactivated within 5 s by 40-80% EA and 70% IPA (log reduction values [LRVs] were >4). However, SARS-CoV-2 and IAV were barely inactivated by 20% EA (LRVs were <1). In vitro evaluation showed that compared to EA and IPA, CHG and BAC were significantly inferior in terms of disinfection effectiveness. Conversely, the disinfection effectiveness of CHG and BAC against SARS-CoV-2 was higher on human skin than in vitro, and increased with increases in their concentration and reaction time (LRVs of 0.2% CHG/0.05% BAC were >2, and LRVs of 1.0% CHG/0.2% BAC were >2.5). Conclusions Proper hand hygiene practices using alcohol-based disinfectants such as EA/IPA effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2 and IAV on human skin.

The issue of preservatives in light of evidence based medicine

“…In addition, the protective effect of BAK against SARS--CoV-2 has been demonstrated in a clinical study by Ryohei Hirose et al The effectiveness of BAK disinfection against SARS-CoV-2 and IAV (influenza virus) on human skin was relatively high and showed a similar trend to that observed in the in vitro evaluation results [18].…”

Higher Viral Stability and Ethanol Resistance of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus on Human Skin

“…Skin from which the panniculus adiposus had been removed was washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and placed in a culture insert (Corning Inc., https://www.corning.com ) on a membrane with a pore size of 8.0 µm. The culture inserts were placed in six-well plates containing 1.0 mL of Dulbecco modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) (Sigma-Aldrich, https://www.sigmaaldrich.com ) ( 26 , 27 ).…”

“…In a 1.5-mL tube, we mixed 5 µL of PBS containing either avian or human influenza virus (4.0 × 10 5 FFUs) with 95 µL of various disinfectants for 15 or 60 s. Subsequently, we neutralized the resulting solutions with 900 µL of Soybean–Casein Digest Broth prepared with Lecithin and Polysorbate 80 (SCLDP) medium. Thereafter, we added 3 mL of DMEM to the neutralized solution and measured the remaining viral titers ( 27 , 38 – 40 ). The detection limit for the virus titers was 10 1.6 FFUs.…”

The practicality and prospects for disinfection control by photocatalysis during and post-pandemic: A critical review

“…The WHO recommended that the most pragmatic way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 is via frequent disinfection using alcohol-based formulations ( WHO, 2020a ). Being an enveloped virus, SARS-CoV-2 is easily prone to disruption with disinfectants in the name of sanitizers ( Hirose et al, 2021 ). For instance, during the peak spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, massive production of disinfectants (4597 t/d), antiseptics (205 t/d), and ethanol for medical usage (906 t/d) was observed with huge spike in the sales of hand-sanitizer (2,315%) on Sunning e-commerce platform ( Allison, 2020 ; News, 2020a ).…”