As cases of the monkeypox virus are becoming increasingly prevalent across the globe, research from GAMA Healthcare demonstrates how its Clinell range of products can ensure safety from infection.
The monkeypox virus – which has predominantly been exclusive to Central and West Africa – now has 80 confirmed cases around the world, in places such as Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. Despite usually being a self-limiting disease – meaning the virus resolves itself without the need for treatment – monkeypox can cause a range of nasty side effects that you would rather avoid. With that in mind, GAMA Healthcare explored the performance of its Clinell products at killing the disease.
What is the monkeypox virus?
The monkeypox virus is a zoonotic viral disease that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae. The first human case of the disease was identified in a nine-year old boy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.
Monkeypox is primarily transmitted through close contact with an infected patient, although it can be passed on by an animal or surfaces contaminated with the virus. Transmission usually occurs by coming into close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, or contaminated materials such as bed sheets.
Symptoms of the virus include a fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes, headache, chills, exhaustion, and muscle ache, usually lasting between two to four weeks. Despite generally being mild, some cases of monkeypox can be severe, with the case fatality ratio being 3-6%. The virus has recently navigated its way to Europe and has been identified in Portugal and Spain, with 20 confirmed cases in the UK alone since May 6.
The power of Clinell
It is currently unclear how potent surfaces are at transmitting the monkeypox virus; nevertheless, GAMA Healthcare set out to analyse the effectiveness of their Clinell Universal Wipes and Clinell Peracetic Acid Wipes at killing the disease. The company examined the efficacy of the disinfectant products using EN14476 – a quantitative suspension test for evaluating the performance of disinfectants.
EN14476 stipulates that demonstrating efficacy against the vaccinia virus is sufficient to establish effectiveness against all enveloped viruses, of which monkeypox is one and is closely related to the vaccinia virus.
The Clinell Universal Wipes and Clinell Peracetic Acid Wipes have both been assessed against enveloped viruses by independent labs using EN14476. The results showed that the wipes passed the EN14476 test, killing 99.99% of the enveloped viruses in a 15 second contact time.
