Formulating sanitiser quickly, easily and compliantly

While they do not necessarily kill everything, viruses, such as COVID-19, are more susceptible. With recent rule changes, it is now easy to begin formulation and manufacture of alcoholbased hand sanitisers. Here Dr Russel Walters, freelance scientist at Kolabtree, the freelance platform for scientists, shares his expertise on how to start manufacturing a hand sanitiser quickly, easily and compliantly

In order for a virus to infect a human host, the host needs to be exposed to a sufficient viral load, typically hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of viral particles. Hand sanitiser dramatically reduces the viral load on the skin, and therefore can reduce infections, or perhaps infection severity

Long sustained exposure to an infected person is best for transmission. It is therefore important to sanitise the hands, because they are the primary contact with the outside world and can spread viral particles if they touch the eyes, mouth, food, etc. Hand sanitisers have repeatedly been shown to slow the spread of viruses