Buzz
The coronavirus that has been dominating the news was only identified by science in late 2019. Yet, people are sharing pictures of old Lysol and Clorox wipes claiming their ingredients can eliminate coronavirus. What's going on?
This isn’t proof of a conspiracy. It's simply a misunderstanding related to naming. While this particular coronavirus is new, many other coronaviruses have existed, affecting both humans and animals. For instance, here’s a 1970 paper that discusses three different human coronavirus strains. In fact, the image we used in yesterday’s article about coronavirus was taken in 2008.
You’ve likely heard of coronaviruses before, even if you don’t recognize the name. SARS, the respiratory virus responsible for a global outbreak in 2003, was a coronavirus. MERS, another respiratory virus identified in 2012, was also a coronavirus.
You may have already had a coronavirus. Roughly one-third of common colds are caused by rhinoviruses, but other offenders include respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, and yes, coronaviruses. The CDC notes on their coronavirus page that most people encounter these viruses at some point in their lives and lists four strains that are known to cause colds.
Lysol has tested its product against viruses “similar to” 2019-nCoV, according to their website. Factcheck.org mentions that it was specifically tested against the 229E strain, which is one of the coronaviruses responsible for the common cold.
