Inactivation of influenza virus by formulations (gargles, alcohol hand-rubs, and hand soaps) commonly used for infection prevention
2009
Furuta, T.(Saraya Co. Ltd., Kashiwara, Osaka (Japan)) | Kusuda, M. | Kumashita, Y. | Tsuji, Y. | Matsumura, R. | Yamamoto, M. | Kato, Y. | Kimura, H.
In order to investigate the efficacy of handwashing and gargling as methods for infection prevention, the virucidal effect on influenza viruses of 17 commercially available products, 3 gargling products, 11 alcohol hand-rubs and 3 liquid hand soaps, was studied in this report. With the exception of 2 gargling products and 2 liquid hand soaps, it was shown that most of the commercially available products were able to inactivate greater than 99.9% of influenza viruses within 30 seconds, a relatively short amount of time. Difference in the virucidal activity of amine soap and potassium soap was also confirmed. Virucidal activity was shown to be dependent on the pH value, and it was found that virucidal activity increases as the pH value decreases. Amine soaps have a lower pH value than potassium soaps, and are also stable in solution. Thus, amine soap formulations are believed to be useful and effective soaps that can be used in measures to prevent the spread of influenza viruses. While a certain gargling product was found to have low virucidal activity in this study, other studies have shown it to be effective in preventing infection. Thus, it is believed that the act of gargling itself effectively contributes to preventing infection, a contribution greater than the virucidal activity of the active ingredients in the product. All the alcohol hand-rubs tested in this study had high virucidal activity, and it is believed that they are effective and useful as disinfectants.
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