Oh, and another question I had: after handling the gloves after washing in cold water, I set them near my retainer cases after inspecting each one (with gloves on, I didn’t want to risk anything with the breaks in my skin), and after a few hours I completely forgot about it and handled my retainer cases to put my retainers in. I know that hepatitis can aerosolize from handling/shaking clothing. Would the likelihood of getting hepatitis from this be possible or negligible?
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Thank you, I appreciate your response! @Caraline
Hi @just_asking, thanks for your message.
We have a fair number of people asking this same question. As mentioned above, what is most important is the presence of detergent to disinfect items. Soapy water even at room temperature or cold will still inactivate the virus.
Thomas
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@ThomasTu , you have no idea how relieving this news is! Thank you!
So, it really only needs the presence of soap (and perhaps friction) to inactivate the virus/make it no longer infectious? I only ask because so many sources online mention needing hot water or a specific cleaning agent to completely rid the virus’ presence, but I suppose presence and infectivity aren’t synonymous. Would my presumption be correct?
Hi @just_asking,
The friction would be needed just to lift the stain and allow the soap access to all parts. Once there, the soap will quickly inactivate the virus.
Indeed, it depends on how you measure the virus presence; easiest is with PCR to detect the virus DNA, but if the proteins and envelope around the DNA are gone or inactivated, then there’s no way that the DNA can infect you.
Thomas
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