Home
Log in / Sign Up
    Private Messages   Advanced Search   Rules   New User Guide   FAQ   Advertise   Contact Us  
Forum -> Coronavirus Health Questions
PSA - How Do You Become Infected With Coronavirus



Post new topic   Reply to topic View latest: 24h 48h 72h

Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 8:57 am
Excuse me as this might seem pretty basic but I thought it provided a good explanation of why basic hygiene and social distancing is so critical.

People I know who are going out are wiping down everything they touch. If you have to push a button, use your pinky, elbow or even the back of your hand as you are less likely to inadvertently touch your face and transmit the virus to yourself.

I am sure most of us are avoiding public bathrooms but don't forget that faucets are potentially sources of contamination so use a paper towel to turn OFF the faucet after you have washed your hands.

Regarding washing your hands, it needs to be done for at least 20 seconds with soap and make sure that you twist around your thumbs as well. Also under the nails. The suggestion is to sing Happy Birthday song twice but you could make it fun for your kids by having them suggest songs for your family to use. Smile

How do you become infected with the coronavirus?

The new coronavirus has traveled unseen paths from Wuhan, China, to virtually all corners of the globe. Evidence of its movements abound, from the proliferation of people wearing face masks to the sudden absence of toilet paper on store shelves.

How did a virus that didn’t even exist just a few months ago manage to infect more than 300,000 people and cause more than 13,000 deaths? How exactly does this pathogen spread?

Here’s what scientists have learned so far about the virus known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19.

How does the new coronavirus infect people?

Through droplets. That is the typical answer physicians give when they talk about how this virus jumps from person to person.

“This virus spreads through respiratory droplets,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a recent congressional hearing. It also spreads via “sneezing, coughing and hand contamination,” he said.

What are these droplets like?

Imagine an infected person who coughs or sneezes. He or she sprays tiny drops of infected saliva, which fall to the ground within seconds, like rain.
Those drops — scientists call them droplets because they are tiny — are loaded with virus that can infect you.

How would the virus get from someone else’s saliva into my body?

Getting sneezed at or coughed on by someone who’s infected is probably the most common way, according to the CDC. If that virus-carrying saliva lands on a wet part of your face — your eyes, nose or mouth — you’ll be infected.

Droplets from a sneeze or cough can fly about 3 feet before they drop to the ground. If the cough or sneeze is “very forceful,” they can go as far as 6 feet, said Dr. Aruna Subramanian, an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University.

The droplets could also be inhaled directly into the lungs of those nearby. Droplets of saliva remain in the air for only a few seconds before falling to the ground.

“What we’re really talking about is droplet spread,” said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco. “Droplets fly out ... and you inhale them on the fly.”

Can I be infected without even noticing?

Yes, you can. This is why officials urge you to not touch your face.

A sneeze or cough can deposit droplets of infected saliva onto doorknobs, elevator buttons or your cellphone. Alternately, someone who’s ill could touch these or other objects, depositing the infected saliva that’s already on their hands onto a surface that others will touch.

Then, all you have to do is lay a finger on one of these surfaces and touch your nose, your eye or your mouth.

How long can the virus survive on surfaces?

Scientists ran experiments to find out. In the lab, samples of the new coronavirus remained viable on stainless steel and on plastic for up to three days, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Tests also found that cardboard could not sustain infectious levels of the virus for 24 hours, and copper couldn’t do it for four hours.

The amount of virus the researchers used in their experiments was meant to mimic the amounts typically found in the respiratory tracts of COVID-19 patients. However, if the researchers had started out with even more, the virus could have remained viable for a longer period of time.

Also, the time periods reported in the study reflect the specific conditions used in the experiment; if variables such as temperature or humidity were different, the results might be different too.

How long can it survive in the air?

For hours, potentially. However, experts aren’t sure about the chances that virus-infected mist could infect other people, and more research would be needed to determine that answer, said Jamie Lloyd-Smith, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at UCLA who worked on the new study.

How do we know the coronavirus can become airborne?

Scientists made it airborne in the study Lloyd-Smith co-wrote. Indeed, they showed just how the virus can survive as an aerosolized particle.

Is an aerosolized particle different from a droplet?

An aerosolized particle is much smaller than a droplet. It can float and fly in a room for hours, much like an aerosolized air freshener. A droplet, meanwhile, is large enough that it drops to the ground by gravity within seconds.

OK, where were we?

We were discussing the lab experiment. Scientists put coronaviruses through a machine called a nebulizer, transforming them into a mist in an enclosed space. The researchers found that the coronavirus survived in aerosolized particles for at least three hours. Added bonus: they were still able to infect cells and replicate.

Of the original amount of coronavirus sprayed into the mist, half of it remained after roughly one hour. So by the end of the three-hour experiment, roughly one-eighth (or 12.5%) of the initial amount still remained.

In real-life conditions where there’s fresh air or ventilation, any virus in a mist will get diluted pretty quickly. But in theory, if you’re in an elevator or a subway car with limited ventilation, the virus could hang out in the air for a while, Lloyd-Smith said.

He also noted that scientists aren’t sure how much virus it takes for a person to become infected.

How does that compare to measles?

Measles ranks among the most infectious diseases. One infected person can pass it on to between 12 and 40 others if they haven’t been vaccinated, according to the CDC.

For the new coronavirus, by contrast, the World Health Organization estimates that every infected person spreads it to 2 to 2.5 others, on average, at least according to data collected early in the outbreak.

That’s still worse than the seasonal flu. Depending on the influenza strain, every infected person passes the virus to 1.2 to 2 others, Lloyd-Smith said.

Will I be safe if I wash my hands and stay 6 feet from others?

Those are still prudent ways to protect yourself. And certainly, staying away from sick people — and keeping your distance from anyone else, really — will help prevent infections.

That’s why a number of states around the nation — including California, New York and Illinois — have issued orders instructing the public to stay at home as much as possible in the coming weeks to help slow the spread of the virus.

Can the coronavirus be found in fecal matter?

Yes. SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the feces of infected people. But there’s currently no evidence that it’s an efficient way to infect others, Subramanian said.

That would make it different from the coronavirus that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Back in 2003, that virus was thought “to have spread via aerosolized fecal matter” through a faulty sewage system in a Hong Kong apartment complex with the help of bathroom exhaust fans.

“There’s nothing like that going on” with the new coronavirus, Rutherford said.

What are the risks for doctors and nurses?

Healthcare workers have a higher risk of infection because they work close to patients and can be exposed to large volumes of virus. Sometimes they perform lifesaving procedures, such as inserting a breathing tube in a patient’s windpipe, that aerosolize infected saliva.

How can they protect themselves?

Ideally, they would wear tight-fitting N95 masks, or respirators, which are designed to filter out 95% of small airborne particles. They offer more protection than the paper masks you see so often these days, but, even if properly fitted on a face, do not completely eliminate the risk of infection.

The problem is, there aren’t enough N95 masks to go around.

If the virus spreads only through droplets, conventional face masks — along with gowns, gloves and eye protection — would be sufficient. But if the virus can spread through aerosolized mist, failing to wear an N95 mask puts them at greater risk, particularly if healthcare workers are doing a procedure that aerosolizes the patient’s saliva.

Have scientists detected coronavirus in hospital rooms?

Yes. A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. examined the rooms of three COVID-19 patients in Singapore and found genetic evidence of the virus lurking in one of them, on an air outlet fan. That suggests it’s possible “that small virus-laden droplets may be displaced by airflows and deposited on equipment such as vents,” the researchers wrote.

The authors also found viral genetic material on the toilet bowl, sink and door handle. (Stool samples from that patient were found to contain the virus.) Routine cleaning was enough to return the hospital room to a virus-free state.

The researchers couldn’t find genetic evidence of the coronavirus in the other two hospital rooms. And none of the three rooms contained air that tested positive for viral material.

Viral material was also found on a shoe covering worn by a physician.



Last edited by Amarante on Sun, Mar 22 2020, 5:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top

amother
Royalblue


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 4:45 pm
Amarante wrote:
This might seem pretty basic but I thought it provided a good explanation of why basic hygiene and social distancing is so critical.

This is excellent information. I would like to print it. Can you provide a link? Thanks.
Back to top

Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 4:51 pm
Today’s Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/scienc.....virus
Back to top

amother
Royalblue


 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 4:57 pm
Many thanks.
Back to top

Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 5:07 pm
Here's another article explaining why basic hygiene - washing hands with SOAP and hot water reduce the risk of contracting the virus

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0......html

Why Soap Works

By Ferris JabrMarch 13, 2020

At the molecular level, soap breaks things apart. At the level of society, it helps hold everything together.

Washing with soap and water is one of the key public health practices that can significantly slow the rate of a pandemic and limit the number of infections.

Washing with soap and water is one of the key public health practices that can significantly slow the rate of a pandemic and limit the number of infections.

It probably began with an accident thousands of years ago. According to one legend, rain washed the fat and ash from frequent animal sacrifices into a nearby river, where they formed a lather with a remarkable ability to clean skin and clothes. Perhaps the inspiration had a vegetal origin in the frothy solutions produced by boiling or mashing certain plants. However it happened, the ancient discovery of soap altered human history. Although our ancestors could not have foreseen it, soap would ultimately become one of our most effective defenses against invisible pathogens.

People typically think of soap as gentle and soothing, but from the perspective of microorganisms, it is often extremely destructive. A drop of ordinary soap diluted in water is sufficient to rupture and kill many types of bacteria and viruses, including the new coronavirus that is currently circling the globe. The secret to soap’s impressive might is its hybrid structure.

Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head — it readily bonds with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats. These molecules, when suspended in water, alternately float about as solitary units, interact with other molecules in the solution and assemble themselves into little bubbles called micelles, with heads pointing outward and tails tucked inside.

Some bacteria and viruses have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles with two bands of hydrophobic tails sandwiched between two rings of hydrophilic heads. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive. Pathogens wrapped in lipid membranes include coronaviruses, H.I.V., the viruses that cause hepatitis B and C, herpes, Ebola, Zika, dengue, and numerous bacteria that attack the intestines and respiratory tract.

When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround any microorganisms on your skin with soap molecules. The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules attempt to evade water; in the process, they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.

“They act like crowbars and destabilize the whole system,” said Prof. Pall Thordarson, acting head of chemistry at the University of New South Wales. Essential proteins spill from the ruptured membranes into the surrounding water, killing the bacteria and rendering the viruses useless.

How Soap Works

Washing with soap and water is an effective way to destroy and dislodge many microbes, including the new coronavirus. For more about the virus, see How Coronavirus Hijacks Your Cells.



In tandem, some soap molecules disrupt the chemical bonds that allow bacteria, viruses and grime to stick to surfaces, lifting them off the skin. Micelles can also form around particles of dirt and fragments of viruses and bacteria, suspending them in floating cages. When you rinse your hands, all the microorganisms that have been damaged, trapped and killed by soap molecules are washed away.

On the whole, hand sanitizers are not as reliable as soap. Sanitizers with at least 60 percent ethanol do act similarly, defeating bacteria and viruses by destabilizing their lipid membranes. But they cannot easily remove microorganisms from the skin. There are also viruses that do not depend on lipid membranes to infect cells, as well as bacteria that protect their delicate membranes with sturdy shields of protein and sugar. Examples include bacteria that can cause meningitis, pneumonia, diarrhea and skin infections, as well as the hepatitis A virus, poliovirus, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses (frequent causes of the common cold).

These more resilient microbes are generally less susceptible to the chemical onslaught of ethanol and soap. But vigorous scrubbing with soap and water can still expunge these microbes from the skin, which is partly why hand-washing is more effective than sanitizer. Alcohol-based sanitizer is a good backup when soap and water are not accessible.

In an age of robotic surgery and gene therapy, it is all the more wondrous that a bit of soap in water, an ancient and fundamentally unaltered recipe, remains one of our most valuable medical interventions. Throughout the course of a day, we pick up all sorts of viruses and microorganisms from the objects and people in the environment. When we absentmindedly touch our eyes, nose and mouth — a habit, one study suggests, that recurs as often as every two and a half minutes — we offer potentially dangerous microbes a portal to our internal organs.

As a foundation of everyday hygiene, hand-washing was broadly adopted relatively recently. In the 1840s Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician, discovered that if doctors washed their hands, far fewer women died after childbirth. At the time, microbes were not widely recognized as vectors of disease, and many doctors ridiculed the notion that a lack of personal cleanliness could be responsible for their patients’ deaths. Ostracized by his colleagues, Dr. Semmelweis was eventually committed to an asylum, where he was severely beaten by guards and died from infected wounds.

Florence Nightingale, the English nurse and statistician, also promoted hand-washing in the mid-1800s, but it was not until the 1980s that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the world’s first nationally endorsed hand hygiene guidelines.

Washing with soap and water is one of the key public health practices that can significantly slow the rate of a pandemic and limit the number of infections, preventing a disastrous overburdening of hospitals and clinics. But the technique works only if everyone washes their hands frequently and thoroughly: Work up a good lather, scrub your palms and the back of your hands, interlace your fingers, rub your fingertips against your palms, and twist a soapy fist around your thumbs.

Or as the Canadian health officer Bonnie Henry said recently, “Wash your hands like you’ve been chopping jalapeños and you need to change your contacts.” Even people who are relatively young and healthy should regularly wash their hands, especially during a pandemic, because they can spread the disease to those who are more vulnerable.

Soap is more than a personal protectant; when used properly, it becomes part of a communal safety net. At the molecular level, soap works by breaking things apart, but at the level of society, it helps hold everything together. Remember this the next time you have the impulse to bypass the sink: Other people’s lives are in your hands.

[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]


https://static01.nyt.com/newsg.....0.jpg
Back to top

Sunny Days




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 22 2020, 7:29 pm
Thanks Amarante. Fascinating!
Back to top
Page 1 of 1 Recent Topics




Post new topic   Reply to topic    Forum -> Coronavirus Health Questions

Related Topics Replies Last Post
How to become a social worker
by amother
0 Sun, Jan 28 2024, 11:41 am View last post
How do you become an interior designer?
by amother
4 Wed, Jan 03 2024, 11:30 am View last post
I want to become an artist 4 Mon, Dec 18 2023, 5:42 am View last post
Cooking shows to help me become a better cook
by amother
4 Wed, Dec 06 2023, 9:28 am View last post
When do high school girls become growth oriented?
by amother
14 Thu, Oct 26 2023, 5:12 pm View last post