Why is alcohol so effective at disinfecting wounds?
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It is essentially a poison, so there is that; it is the waste material of bacteria, so it makes sense it would kill said bacteria!
Alcohol kills germs through a simple chemical process known as denaturation.
Denaturation occurs when alcohol molecules break down the proteins present in the structure of germs. When the proteins break down and lose their structure, the cells can’t function properly. They lose their membrane protection, dehydrate, and quickly die.
Most organisms have a very restricted set of parameters it requires to stay alive, alcohol is bactericidal which essentially means it directly causes the bacteria in a wound to die through denaturing their proteins and rupturing cell walls.
It creates an extremely hostile environment for cells to live in, it breaks them down really quickly and so they die.
That is also why alcohol isn’t the best choice to disinfect wounds, it’ll kill everything in its path, bacteria and your own cells. Don’t put alcohol on a wound.
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