"Killing" a virus?!
Question: I am in a debate with a friend of mine. He states that it is possible to "kill" a virus from cleansing a needle in bleach or alchohol. I argue a semantic argument stating that it is impossible to kill a virus because it is in fact not living material.
The debate expanded and I state that the body disrupts viruses when it wants to rid itself of them by introducing viral inhibitors, and by doing so, makes the virus benign. He states that no such things exist even though I state several sources for my arguement.
My question is: Is it possible to kill a virus or destroy it by using bleach or alchohol?
Let me go ahead and give thanks to anyone that has any light to shed on this and helping me resolve this debate.
Answers: I am in a debate with a friend of mine. He states that it is possible to "kill" a virus from cleansing a needle in bleach or alchohol. I argue a semantic argument stating that it is impossible to kill a virus because it is in fact not living material.
The debate expanded and I state that the body disrupts viruses when it wants to rid itself of them by introducing viral inhibitors, and by doing so, makes the virus benign. He states that no such things exist even though I state several sources for my arguement.
My question is: Is it possible to kill a virus or destroy it by using bleach or alchohol?
Let me go ahead and give thanks to anyone that has any light to shed on this and helping me resolve this debate.
Great question!
Yes, a virus can be killed, even outside of the body, if the defintion of killed is permanently neutralizing it from functioning. A strong acid is another effective way to de-nature a virus. Alive or not (to be debated), there is no debate that a virus can be killed, by any definition of the word 'kill'.
Semantics aside, you can certainly render a virus nonfuctional by using bleach or alcohol (depending on the virus, but bleach will kill most things).
As far as I know, it is still up for debate whether viruses are really "alive" in the same way that bacteria, plants, and animals are, but they can certainly be treated in such a way as to render them unable to reproduce themselves even if they are introduced to the proper host, so whether or not they are "alive" they can be killed.
The way the body deals with viruses is much the same as the way it deals with bacteria, with both humeral (antibody-mediated) and cell-mediated systems. The viruses can be inactivated by antibodies tailored to bind to them then removed from circulation by cells which recognize the antibodies.
Yea, it's possible, but it's been a long time since biochemistry - I think antivirals will destroy the DNA or RNA within or destroy the shell of the virus.
your friend is correct. take hcv for instance. it is blood born. anotherwords, it needs the blood to survive. studies are still inconclusive as to whether hcv is killed by bleach solution. since hcv can spread if introduced into someone elses bloodstream and it only takes a particle unseen to the naked eye to infect, it's still possible to transmit.
hcv is one of those viruses that i wouldn't take any chance on getting sharing needles that were cleaned with bleach.
as for alcohol, that is used to clean an area, as in a swab on the arm before injection. (helps in removal of dirt). it really doesn't do much other than clean the surface, which can keep the chance of infection from happening, but it will not prevent the spread of the more common diseases known to those who share drugs like hiv, hbv and hcv.
the debate is always ongoing. but, where hcv is concerned, the jury is still out on how well bleach may affect hcv.
as for hcv entering the body of someone? it will create in up to 88% of those who have been exposed, a chronic infection. the reason being is because hcv changes its viral sequence (mainly in the liver, but studies have shown it has up to five other replication areas in the body). our bodies immune system is alarmed at the first infection with hcv, however, once the mutations begin to occur, it confuses our defense mechanisms and our interferon not only becomes confused, it becomes overloaded and eventually it no longer can figure out what to fight.
as always, hcv can remain infectious even in dried blood in up to 4 days outside the body. if there is blood and it comes from someone with hcv, it is infectious and capable of replication once it is re-introduced into another bloodstream.
keep in mind that although a virus is not "alive" it can't be killed either, since once it is introduced to it's host material, it becomes active. this is why viruses will always be said to "reactivate" given the right circumstances.
another reason why they say to wash your hands with soap and water....your getting rid of the germs, which lessons the chance of transmission. but that is all your doing. there is really no such thing as sterilizing other than that of HOT HOT water.
why does staph go around in hospitals more than any other place? it's not because the place is dirty, its simply because it's impossible to make the place totally sterile.
many arguments lol
Yes, bleach can kill most viruses/bacteria.