Cleaning and hygiene tips for disinfecting your clothes during COVID-19

Specialists appreciated the possibility of disinfecting clothing by processing at high temperatures. They concluded that an hour and a half of washing with powder at 60 ° C was sufficient to inactivate SARS-Cov-2. This method, unlike alcohol and chlorine-containing solutions, will not harm natural, linen and cotton fabrics.

Proper washing

Even in full quarantine, people have to contact relatives, friends and acquaintances. Specialists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that coronavirus can live on various surfaces, including plastic and stainless steel, for up to several days. This means that the pathogen can also be fixed on the elements of clothing and shoes when communicating with a COVID-19 carrier.

Touching a button or zipper and then touching your face can lead to infection. But if various hard surfaces can be treated with alcohol solutions, bleach and hydrogen peroxide, then the skin and tissues will not withstand this treatment. Ultraviolet does not penetrate deep into the fibers. The only option is proper washing.

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A few years ago, a team of scientists from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention found out at what temperatures inactivation of SARS occurs, a similar coronavirus that became the culprit in 2002 of the so-called SARS epidemic.

According to the director of the Scientific and Educational Center for Genomic Research of Siberian Federal University, professors of the University of Gottingen Konstantin Krutovsky, SARS and SARS-Cov-2 are very similar, therefore, the inactivation temperature and the conditions for maintaining their viability will be quite close.

Pathogenic experiment

First, the authors isolated the SARS strain from a smear of the patient’s throat mucosa. The properties of coronavirus after treatment were studied using various tests. Including visually using a microscope, as well as gene analysis technology. Pathogen activity was evaluated by the so-called cytopathic effect – the ability to make structural changes in the host cell.

Scientists kept the strain from 15 minutes to two hours at six different temperatures. It turned out that its activity was unchanged from 4 to 37 degrees even with a two-hour exposure. Subsequently, with increasing temperature and a period of incubation duration, the cytopathic effect began to weaken and eventually completely disappeared. In particular, when treated with temperatures of 56, 67 and 75 ° C for one and a half hours, hours and 30 minutes, respectively, the virus was completely inactivated.

With short exposure to high temperatures (67 ° C and 75 ° C), the ability of the virus to penetrate into the human or animal body was significantly reduced even after 15 minutes of treatment.

Change of wardrobe

Textile experts evaluated how such processing would affect the quality of clothing. Modern washing machines provide washing modes both at 60 ° C and at 95 ° C.

However, the expert emphasized that one should not think about the safety of clothing in conditions when it comes to the health and life of people around. However, you can adjust your wardrobe, knowing the conditions for the inactivation of the coronavirus using the right wash.

About the Narayanan Srinathan

Narayanan Srinathan is an author and digital marketing expert for the entire 'Live Planet News' and covers the latest business, technology, health, and entertainment news for www.liveplanetnews.com

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