According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), norovirus is highly contagious and is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. The virus spreads easily through direct contact with an infected person or contaminated surfaces, even after the infected person's symptoms have gone. Although cases increase in the fall and winter when people gather close to each other indoors, anyone can become infected with norovirus at any time of the year.
Neutralizing or “killing” any norovirus that gets on people's hands or surfaces helps stop the spread of the disease. So what's the best way to kill norovirus? Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr., medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told Live Science that washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of the virus. Cleaning hard surfaces like countertops with a bleach-based solution can also neutralize the virus and thus prevent it from spreading to others.
However, one common cleanser doesn't work against norovirus: alcohol-based hand sanitizers. This is because alcohol-based cleansers are only effective against certain types of viruses, known as “enveloped” viruses.
All viruses contain genetic material – that is, DNA or RNA – wrapped in a protein coating called a capsid. Some viruses, such as influenza and the culprit behind COVID-19, also have a protective outer “envelope” called a phospholipid bilayer, similar to the membrane that surrounds human cells. Without this envelope, these viruses cannot attach to or infect host cells. Alcohol-based cleansers interfere with the outer envelope of the virus, rendering it inactive.
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