With the coronavirus pandemic in our country, many have begun cleaning or disinfecting their homes to prevent disease and safeguard the health of their families.
“The difference between cleanliness and disinfection must be clear,” nurse Karla Guerra emphasized. “In homes usually what is done is a cleaning. Talking about disinfection is the elimination of a germ that can
be on the surface inanimate through a chemical.”
Therefore, the question arises of which product is the best to be able to avoid diseases within the home and, by the way, to move away from the pandemic of the coronavirus that today affects Chile and the world with more than 216 thousand confirmed cases.
Copper as a disinfectant
One of the elements that took the most force for disinfection is copper, being antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral. This, because different studies have placed it as a compound that has a greater lingering over time.
“We have mainly used copper as a staple and through nanotechnology we have managed to make good additives. Within these cleaners or chemicals we reinforce the microbial effect, antivirus or anti-fungal,” said Patricio Jarpa, general manager of Nanotec Chile, a company that has been working with metal since 2010.
“We think of copper as an element that can protect us from the different germs that exist in every household. That’s why this technology we make in Chile is born,” he added.
For his part, Germán Norambuena, traumatologist at the Uandes Clinic, endorsed the use of metal in disinfection. “In the last decade, the issue of copper has reappeared. We did research on pure metals and their bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects, where clearly copper and zinc had effects superior to metals such as gold, silver. That is why it is under the support of further trying to investigate the use of copper in our country.”
Finally, Patricio Jarpa underlined the ability of the chemical element to sanitize, although reason is somewhat unknown. “There are some metals like copper, gold, silver that are able to eliminate bacteria as they attack membranes, but the specific reason is being studied. The Indians stored water in copper vessels. Today, we’re giving it technology,” he said.
