Best Strategies for Disinfecting Surfaces.

• Position: CORONAVIRUS

Disinfection approaches that have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic include chemical disinfectants, automated disinfection processes, specialized surface coatings, and materials with antimicrobial properties. Each has proven effective at killing coronavirus on different surfaces, explains an article in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, coauthored by a team of researchers that includes Virender Sharma, professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

Chemical disinfectants such as bleach, alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide are time-honored ways of stopping diseases from spreading on surfaces. These chemicals work in a variety of ways, such as destroying proteins and fatty compounds that bacteria and viruses are made of.

Coronaviruses like the one that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) have a fatty coating that they cannot survive without. Because of this, alcohol and bleach have been highly effective at eliminating the virus on various surfaces. Other disinfectants work through chemical reactions that produce substances that oxidize and otherwise damage microbes. However, chemical disinfectants must be reapplied regularly, meaning microbes can regrow between applications.

To address this issue, newer methods...