What is the problem to use UV-light to destroy viruses?
One of the visions to fight against COVID-19 is to zap them with UV light, and the problem with this method is that the UV-light kills also cells inside the human body. This is not the first time when UV-radiation has been introduced to use against micro-organisms, and UV-light is a very good tool when the layers of the table or something must be sterilized, but when the organisms wanted to kill inside the human body that thing needs extremely high accuracy with the radiation.
If that kind of system can be created, that thing makes it possible to create a universal cure against cancer and dangerous organisms. But there are many technical problems to create this kind of thing. And the biggest problem is to make very accurate ray, which can also use against multiple organisms. Destroying one virus or another harmful cell in the body is not enough, the system must destroy all viruses at the same time.
When the radiation hits to own cells of the targeted person, that thing activates the programmed apoptosis in the body, which causes death. That's why UV-radiation is extremely dangerous if it is targeted the internal organs of a person. And that limits the medical use of that thing.
The fact is that the UV-light will destroy the genetic material of the organisms, but the problem is how to target it to extremely small particles inside the human body. But UV-light can be used also another way, it can be used to destroy the genomes of the viruses in the cell cultures, and this kind of thing can be used to create vaccines against viruses.
When the genomes of the viruses are destroyed, the protein cores of the virus can inject into the human body, and that would start to make the vaccines. But the problem is, how to confirm that all genetic material of viruses is destroyed?
If the sample of viruses is injected into cells for testing this kind of vaccine, the risk is that there are still living viruses or viruses what genome can infect the cells. The problem is also that the core proteins of the virus must keep their form because those proteins are a thing, that activates the immune system. And if those proteins are changed, the immune cells cannot recognize organisms. So why the vaccines are very hard to create against the viruses like COVID-19?
The virus has a two-layer core, and the problem is that the inner core might have a different type of proteins than the outer core. And even if the outer core has been destroyed, the inner core will protect the genomes. So the thing that makes viruses very complicated thing is that the confirmation of the termination of the genomes is very hard to make because there is no own metabolism in that creature.
In the case of bacteria, the sample would be injected into the chemical mark, which can be observed by using a microscope. The color of that indicator makes it possible to see if the cell is pulling it inside. Also sometimes is used radio-active indicators, what are stored in the living cells. But there is always a small risk to get a dose of radioactive radiation if in the tests is handled radioactive material like iodines or carbons radioactive isotopes.
But because the virus doesn't have its metabolism the viruses are hard to confirm dead. That means the tests must be made by injecting the viruses into the cells. And the question is that if all viruses in the population are not destroyed, the vaccine can infect the person.
Image and other sources: https://www.seti.org/killer-light
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