If this is real -- does anyone know what substance they may be spraying and/or what the purpose is?
@BogochIsaac @MackayIM @aetiology @bevpaterson @balajis @DanielleFong @VirusWhispererhttps://twitter.com/WLaowai8/status/1225809833837789186 …
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ps: sorry about “semantics.” ran out of characters in tweet.
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Not semantics at all - a complete lack of understanding of the very basic biochemistry. 1. Alcohols destroy lipid bilayer structure because when water concentration is low, lipid tails do not "try" to form bilayer. 100% ethanol would do that equally well. NOT dehydration!
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thank you for the clarification; helpful. (found this reference on alcohol bilayer effects for further reading https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175087/ …)
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2. Protein structure, like that of lipid bilayer, ALSO exists because of hydrophobic effect - which is reduced when water concentration is reduced by alcohols. Which is why 70% EtOH is ALSO effective against non-enveloped viruses - protein denaturation is ~ irreversible.
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Finally, it IS dehydration that is responsible for the fact that *some* bugs (very few, and almost all non-viruses) are NOT killed by 95-100% EtOH: dehydrated cell walls/capsids "glue" together, forming a layer that prevents alcohol access to membranes or more labile proteins.
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BTW - no, 70% EtOH is not "hygroscopic" (definition of hygroscopic is "sucking water in" but below ~95% ethanolic solutions are stable. So yes, the effects are water-dependent but it's wrong to call them "dehydration" because "dehydration" = removal of water FROM something.
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thank you
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70% ethanol is effective on viruses with a lipid membrane (coronaviruses, influenza viruses, paramyxoviruses {measles, mumps, parainfluenza viruses, etc.}, & even Ebola viruses. When alcohol evaporates, it dehydrates the viral particles & destroys the viral membrane.
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