They discover a way to neutralize the Covid-19 in a second – News

Researchers led by Arum Han, a professor in the university’s electrical and computer engineering department, designed an experimental system to neutralize the coronavirus in less than a second.

According to an article published in the news of Phys.org, exposure of SARS-CoV-2 to high temperatures, even if it lasts less than a second, may be enough to neutralize Covid-19 so that it can no longer infect another human host.

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Scientists heated the section of a stainless steel tube through which the solution containing the coronavirus rose to nearly 72 degrees Celsius.

In the experiment, the heat exposure lasted for about half a second, cooling it down right after.

What this means in the fight against the coronavirus

The discovery marks a turning point in the study of the disease: it was discovered that the thermal process is able to reduce the amount of virus in the solution by 100,000 times, which would be enough to neutralize it and prevent transmission over time. much longer. short of what was thought possible until now.

“I was curious how well we can apply high temperatures in such a short time and see if we could heat inactivate the coronavirus in a very short time,” explained Prof Han, co-author of the study, which highlighted the huge “potential impact” of the discovery.

What will happen now

Experts believe the discovery could be implemented in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The idea now is to build a microfluidic scale test chip that allows them to heat treat viruses for much shorter periods of time, to identify a temperature that allows them to be left dormant even with short exposure times. .