How can disinfectants kill viruses so easily but they are hard to kill when inside someone
In: Biology
this is the difference between *in vitro* and *in vivo* results.
in vitro is latin for in glass – that is, in a laboratory setting (think petri dishes, test tubes, etc – made of glass). in vitro, disinfectants are great for killing viruses because you have the virus isolated. killing the virus is all they can do.
in vivo is latin for in life. while you can get good info from in vitro results, in vivo is what really matters in the end. disinfectants work great on a pathogen isolated on a petri dish, but you have to consider the effects on the host of the virus (us). turns out that disinfectants are usually pretty good at hurting our insides for the same reasons they’re good at killing viruses. you may know that some harm to the patient is necessary in, for example, treatments where chemo or radiation do a number on the body in the process of getting rid of cancer cells. but putting enough disinfectant in your system to have an effect on viruses you’re hosting is too much harm.
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