Japanese researchers have found that coronaviruses can remain active on human skin for up to nine hours, suggesting that frequent hand washing is necessary to combat 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19, Wuhan pneumonia).
The study, which appears in this month’s issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, notes that the virus that causes influenza, by contrast, stays on human skin for only about 1.8 hours.
In contrast to IAV (Influenza A virus), SARS-CoV-2 (the strain responsible for 2019 coronavirus disease) survives on human skin for 9 hours, which may increase the risk of contact transmission and thus accelerate the spread of the epidemic,” the study states.
The research team collected skin from autopsy samples from patients about a day after death for testing. Both coronaviruses and influenza viruses became inactive within 15 seconds of being sprayed with the ethanol used for dry hand washing.
The study noted, “SARS-CoV-2 survives longer on the skin, increasing the risk of contact transmission, but hand cleaning reduces this risk.”
The study supports World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that recommend frequent and thorough hand washing to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.
Since the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak in China late last year, nearly 40 million people worldwide have been infected.
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