It's important to wash your hands! New research has revealed that the new coronavirus can survive on the surface of human skin for up to nine hours

French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a televised speech on the 28th, in order to curb the spread of the new crown epidemic, France will be from the 30th to "seal the city" again.
the same day, Germany also announced the national closure of the city for one month from November 2.
March, U.S. scientists written in the journal NEJM that SARS-CoV-2 can remain stable in aerosols and on surfaces for hours to days.
these results suggest that people can be infected with the virus through air and contact with contaminated objects.
transmission through contact with human skin is considered an important risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
, it is important to understand the stability (i.e. survival time) of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin.
, however, it is dangerous to apply highly lethal infectious pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 directly to human skin.
addition, fewer skin samples were taken through surgery.
the stability of highly pathogenic infectious pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 on human skin remains unknown due to these limitations.
now, in a new study, Japanese researchers have found that SARS-CoV-2 remains active on human skin for up to nine hours, a finding that suggests frequent hand washing is needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
, the influenza A virus survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours as a pathogen that causes influenza.
study was recently published in the journal Clinical Medical Diseases under the title "Survival of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus on the human skin: Importance of hand hygiene in COVID-19".
the authors built a model to assess the stability of infectious pathogens in human skin samples taken during forensic autopsies.
compared with other organs, human skin (especially the skin) has the characteristics of slower degeneration after death, and the collected skin can be used in experiments such as transplantation even after death of 24 h.
, the skin collected from the autopsy tissue used in this evaluation model can still retain skin function about 1 day after death.
the new study, the authors compared the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin with the common influenza A virus (IAV) around the world.
using evaluation models to assess the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV in mediums and on stainless steel, boron silicate glass, polystyrene, and human skin surfaces.
In addition, they assessed the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV after mixing with upper respiratory mucus, given that the virus particles of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV adhere to objects and skins that are driven by infectious body fluids (mucus).
, they assessed the disinfection effect of 80% of ethanol on human skin exposed to SARS-CoV-2 or IAV.
fluctuations in the levels of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus (IAV) that survive on the surfaces of stainless steel (A), boron silicate glass (B), polystyrene (C) and three human skin samples (HS1(D), HS2 (E) and HS3 (F), pictured, 2020, doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1517.
the authors found that SARS-CoV-2 survived eight times as long on stainless steel, boron silicate glass, and polystyrene surfaces as IAVs, and that SARS-CoV-2 also showed greater stability on those surfaces.
However, SARS-CoV-2 and IAB inactivate faster on the surfaces of three human skin samples (HS1, HS2, HS3) than they do on stainless steel, boron silicate glass, and polystyrene surfaces, and the survival time and half-life of these two viruses on human skin is significantly shorter than their survival time and half-life on stainless steel, boricilate glass, and polystyrene surfaces.
, SARS-CoV-2 was more stable than IAC on the surfaces of these three human skin samples (HS1, HS2, HS3), and SARS-CoV-2 survived significantly longer and half-life on these skin surfaces (the former had a survival of 9.04 h (95% CI:7.96-10.20 h), with the latter surviving. The half-life is 1.82 h (95% CI: 1.65-2.00 h), the half-life of the former is 3.53 h (95% CI:3.02-4.16 h), and the half-life of the latter is 0.80 h (95% CI:0.72-0.90 h).
's stability analysis of SARS-CoV-2 or IAV viruses mixed with upper respiratory mucus shows that on stainless steel, boron silicate glass, and polystyrene surfaces, IAV inactivates in mucus faster than in media DMEM, while SARS-CoV-2 is similar in mucus and DMEM.
importantly, in the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 or IAV virus mixed with upper respiratory tract mucus, the survival time and half-life of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin surfaces were also significantly longer than that of IAV on human skin surfaces (the former had a survival time of 11.09 hours (95% CI:10.22-12.00 hours), and the latter's survival time was 11.09 hours (95% CI:10.22-12.00 hours), The survival time is 1.69 hours (95% CI: 1.57-1.81 hours), the former has a half-life of 4.16 hours (95% CI:3.79-4.58 hours) and the latter has a half-life of 0.77 hours (95% CI:0.71-0.84 hours).
, SARS-CoV-2, whether in mucus or medium DMEM, was treated with 80% (w/w) ethanol and completely infringed on the surface of the three human skin samples (HS1, HS2, HS3) within 15 seconds.
addition, IAV can be completely inastaffed under the same evaluation conditions.
evaluated the disinfection effect of 80% (w/w) ethanol on human skin exposed to SARS-CoV-2 (above) or IAV (below), pictured from Clinical Infection Diseases, 2020, doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1517.
, however, there are three major limitations to the new study.
, only one SARS-CoV-2 strain (JPN/TY/WK-521) and one influenza virus strain (PR8) were used. A/Puerto Rico/8/1934; H1N1), while the PR8 strain is not a related clinically isolated strain.
further increase in the number of viral strains in the future and to continue to study the results to see if these results can be meaningful to human influenza and COVID-19.
, the study used only three human skin samples from autopsy tissue and three mucus samples.
because of the small sample size, the authors plan to increase the sample size to assess the clinical background of patients in future clinical studies.
, a evaluation model was established using human skin collected under the background of forensic autopsy to evaluate the stability and disinfection effect of the virus.
in the future, it is necessary to prove that the skin surface in this evaluation model is similar to that of living skin.
However, the direct application of highly pathogenic infectious pathogens to the subject's skin is dangerous and clinically unworkable, and there is no more accurate and repeatable evaluation system than this model at this stage.
it is worth noting that IAV's inactivation rates on the surface of human and living skins are similar, which supports the effectiveness of this evaluation model.
, the study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may have a higher risk of exposure and transmission than IAB because the virus is more stable on human skin than IAV.
these findings support the hypothesis that good hand hygiene is important to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
: 1. Neeltje van Doremalen et al. Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1. NEJM, 2020, doi:10.1056/NEJMc2004973.2.New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces: studyrose et al. Survival of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus on the human skin: Importance of hand hygiene in COVID-19. Clinical Agent Diseases, 2020, doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1517. This article is sourced from Bio Valley, for more information please download Bio Valley APP (