Self disinfecting property of copper and Apollo 11 Astronauts Quarantine

Copper has self disinfecting properties

             Copper has been used in medicine for many decades and is known for its antimicrobial properties. But do you know that it is also known for its self-disinfecting properties. Self - disinfecting surfaces can be defined as a technology that has the ability to kill  and disable microbes on contact. Copper and its alloys can release reactive ions that invade the bacteria's cell wall, resulting in the destruction of DNA.

              Although contact-killing cannot destroy some bacteria completely, but it is proven effective at reducing large amounts of various bacteria which include gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as developed viruses. But there are some myths about this property of copper . It is said that copper cleans itself which is not correct. When bacteria come into direct contact with copper ions, a process begins which results in eventual death of the bacteria. However, this is a process that takes some time. Copper does not kill all bacteria immediately on contact. A study found that SARS-COV-2, the virus responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, is no longer infectious on copper within 4 hrs. But to avoid the spread of virus within this time-span we should regularly disinfect it manually. Some of the common germs copper has been proved to kill are:

1) MRSA

2) E. colli

3)Influenza A

4)Norovirus.

                 Many germicides are used to clean copper. However those cleaners that contain quaternary ammonium can have an adverse effect on the surface. If ammonia forms a coating on the copper surface then it will not  allow the microbes to reach the copper surface and hence inhibiting the “contact killing” of microbes. The coating must be wiped off in order for the copper to be completely effective. Nothing should get in between copper surface and the bacteria. This means any kind of moisture wax , oil or coating can inhibit copper’s anti-microbial effect.

                  Having a clear understanding of how copper works and how it needs to be cleaned will

allow copper to work effectively.

Apollo 11 Astronauts spent 3 weeks  in Quarantine, just in case of moon plague. 

What if  the astronauts returning home unleashed upon Earth something dangerous and foreign to Science -moon germs? Before Apollo 11 set out, NASA was afraid if bits of dust or potential micro-organisms got loose back home, life on earth would not be safe. Accidentally had a lunar plague set on the inhabitants of Earth , all the efforts taken in accomplishing the moon mission would have gone in vain.

                  NASA made all the protection to make sure the moon rocks remain free of terrestrial contamination. But just in case, in addition to this they also decided to establish a 3 week quarantine for the crew of Apollo 11. The quarantine was treated all along as a better-safe-than-sorry operation. The New York Times reported : "Twelve men are in absolute quarantine here because of something that probably does not exist".

                  Jason Schwartz , a historian of medicine at the Yale school of Public Health said that, "this was a different story than most public health efforts at the time because typically, when we think about treatments, antibiotics, vaccines, quarantine we're  thinking about known viruses or bacteria  with distinct symptoms, distinct modes of transmission that we know about and we can apply that knowledge to figure out how to tailor the public health responses. In this case , it was responding to a very slim but still nonzero uncertainity. How do you tailor a public health response when you're not sure what exactly you're concerned about or what it looks like or how it might affect human at all?

               Later NASA had planned to institute quarantine for Apollo 11 , 12, 13 and 14 then re-evaluate the situation. But after Apollo 14, NASA decided that the Earth was safe from lunar bugs.

 

President Nixon visited the mobile quarantine facility to meet the crew of Apollo 11.

Credits and References :

Written by : Mamta Wankhade(Team Factual Friday)

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