A Better Way to Disinfect?
INTRODUCTION
Over the last century there has been a dramatic improvement in ways to kill, eliminate or reduce bacteria numbers. To some extent this advance has also occurred in regards to viruses. This has particular implications with respect to some more recent virus contagions (eg COVID-19).
However many of the advances have significant side effects. Some of this are immediate (eg anaphylaxis shock) but others are longer term (eg undesirable effects on Gastrointestinal microflora). Other medications have undesirable side effects such as toxicity and others may alter the immune response.
Furthermore, there is now abundant evidence that due to misuse or mismanagement of therapeutic administration of antibiotics, resistant strains of bacteria are now regularly appearing (eg Superbugs).
Thus some of the excellent advances in medical therapeutics have been negated or eroded over the last 30-40 years.
For this reason there has been considerable investigation into alternative ways to disinfect microorganisms. There are multiple chemicals that can achieve excellent disinfection rates but unfortunately many of these are quite toxic to the human body.
More recently there has been a discovery that Hypochlorous Acid is a very effective disinfecting agent (both as a solution or a spray mist) and the data indicates it is non-toxic to humans. For this reason there has been considerable research in recent times as to how this can benefit the community. This is especially so in regards to COVID-19 control. More information on experimantal results in regards to kill rate on COVID-19 virus can be supplied if required.
WHAT IS HYPOCHLOROUS ACID?
Put in simple terms, if you create a dilute saline (salt) solution (eg by adding common table salt to water) and then electrolyse the solution, then a mild (eg low concentration) of Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) can be generated. This tends to be between 50 parts per millions (ppm) and 400 ppm.
HOW IT WORKS
Again in simple terms, HOCl has been shown to penetrate biofilm readily. What this means is that it passes through various biological debris to get the bacteria and viruses and thus is very effective in getting to the target microbes.
HOCl has also been shown to kill multiple forms of bacteria: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1853323/
Its mechanism of action is also outlined in the same paper (although there are numerous publications explaining the kill mechanism): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1853323/
There have also been many publications over the last few decades which indicate that HOCl is non-toxic to humans and animals.
There have also been some recent papers indicating there could or should be therapeutic benefits in regards to bacterial infection and viral attack.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1853323/
There are also many more publication you can read – simply Google search “HOCl” or “Hypochlorous Acid”.
Due to my background in pharmacology and clinical research and my profession as a specialist dentist, I am also interested in the benefits of HOCl solution as a disinfectant mouthwash. Preliminary investigation indicates this could have merit.
