HYGIENE 13


COVID-19: Preventing personal disease (Part 1)


n Dr Michael Pletnev – Independent Consultant


Since the beginning of the Chinese Wuhan pandemic in late 2019, over 34 million people worldwide have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This dangerous virus initiates the COVID-19 disease that was the cause of over a million deaths. However, this is at the date of the article writing. Now the epidemiological status quo in countries and continents can be monitored online.1


China and


neighbouring countries have practically dealt with this dangerous virus, while the alarming situation in Europe, US, Latin America, Africa, Australia, India, and the Middle East seem that they may continue until the end of the year and longer. About half of the world’s population were quarantined or subjected to some other form of isolation.


What do we know about pathogen of this disease? Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the group of enveloped RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. This group of viruses can cause infectious diseases of the respiratory tract and atypical pneumonia in people, which is varied from mild to lethal.2-5 According to electron microscopy, the


coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is approximately a spherical nanoparticle 80 ± 10 nm in diameter, and together with spikes of glycoproteins – about 125 nm (Fig 1). A viral particle carries a small negative charge: its zeta potential is –5 mV. The viral core is surrounded by membrane M consisting of phospholipids and lipoproteins. On its surface, there is a characteristic corona of spike proteins, each in the form of cloves, fixed on a substrate cell. Spike protein linkage with the surface of the cell membrane allows the genetic material of the virus to penetrate into the human cell. In addition to spike proteins, the viral particles contain other kinds of structural and functional proteins, namely envelope, membrane, and nucleocapsid proteins. The nucleic acid- associated and capsid proteins along with the genome form the nucleocapsid N,


November 2020 Abstract


The origin, basic features, and behaviour of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) are considered here in terms of prevention, namely through the prism of an available set of tools that allow us to avoid the dangerous disease. This is a brief overview of hand sanitisers, both alcohol-based and alcohol-free, soaps for hand/face cleansing, natural nasal and oral care products, and aids for disease prevention from within.


Figure 1: Schematic structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Source: M. Cascella, et al.4


which is surrounded by a lipid membrane. The main function of the capsid is to protect the nucleic acid. The structure of the coronavirus spike is


worth considering in more detail since it is just the target for many therapeutic and prophylactic drugs. The spike contains three segments: a large ectodomain, a single-pass transmembrane anchor, and a short intracellular tail. The ectodomain consists of the receptor-binding subunit and the membrane-fused subunit. Electron microscopic studies showed that the spike


is a trimer with three heads S1 and trimer stem S2. During the penetration of the virus, S1 binds to the receptor on the surface of the host cell, and S2 combines the membranes of the host cell and the coronavirus, allowing the viral genomes to enter the cell. Generally, coronavirus linkage happens with participation of the human enzyme ACE2. Receptor binding and membrane fusion are the critical initial steps in the coronavirus infection cycle.4 In its behaviour, this virus is similar to


both SARS and ordinary coronaviruses. The PERSONAL CARE EUROPE


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