KelleyRN2's timely diary got me thinking.... in this day and age of H1N1 and people discovering their inner obsessive-compulsive for the first time, it might be good to go over a few facts and clear up a few misconceptions. Follow me over the fold.
Ok. First off, I am not a nurse. Nor am I any kind of medical professional. With that disclaimer out of the way, I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder some years ago. Over the course of learning to live with this condition, I've learned a few things that would likely be useful to people in this day and age of epidemic flu. (Seriously, people.... when did we go and change the definition of 'pandemic?' This could potentially become a pandemic, but it isn't one yet.)
First, let's start with some definitions:
Sanitizer.
Sanitizing means to reduce (but not necessarily completely eliminate) microbes on a given surface. (If I remember right, the EPA defines sanitizing as killing 99.997% of microbes on a surface. I've been unable to find where I read this, however.) Sanitizing means that microbes, particularly pathogens, have been reduced to a level that is considered to be safe.
Disinfectant.
Disinfectants are generally hard surface cleaners, although some porous surface versions are available. The emphasis is on infectious bacteria, fungi and viruses, although not necessarily spores from fungi, molds, mildew and the like.
Sterilizer.
Sterilizers, to quote Alton Brown: 'Kill everything. Good, bad and indifferent.' Fungi, bacteria, mold, mildew, viruses, spores, and usually toxins are broken down either through chemical or physical action.
There are numerous versions of each of these, and some substances fall under more than one category. In general, sanitizers are adequate to keep people healthy. Chemical sterilizers can be somewhat dangerous, (although so can most disinfectants and sanitizers, let's not go eating this stuff, k?) but any of the above can be safe when handled properly.
Methods.
Sterilization is extremely difficult to achieve. Let's just state this right off. We live in a fairly septic environment. Our bodies can fight off infection well enough that sanitization is usually sufficient. There are numerous methods of sanitizing and disinfecting available:
Alcohol.
Ethyl alcohol is one of the more effective sanitizers out there. It's broad spectrum, meaning it will kill microbes across the board. It's also relatively cheap and simple to produce. Drawback: It needs to be concentrated to a specific range to be effective. (60-70%. Oddly enough, 100% ethanol, or as close to it as you can reasonably get, isn't as effective as 70% for some reason.) Additional drawback: This specific range is one at which any of the various alcohols are mind-bogglingly flammable.
This limits alcohol's usefulness somewhat.
That having been said, I'm a fan. Alcohol based hand sanitizers are widely available. Check the label, it needs to be at least 60% ethanol. (Most are. Some of the better ones go as high as 70%.)
Bleach.
Sodium Hypochlorite is one of the most effective anti-microbial agents in the world. It's cheap, easy to produce, relatively safe to use, biodegradable, and widely available. Like alcohol, it's a broad spectrum anti-microbial agent. (Chlorine is toxic to pretty much every life form we know of.) Drawbacks: It's bleach. It breaks down dyes and heavy exposure can basically disintegrate cotton. Additionally, bleach must never be mixed with any other cleaning agent other than soap or detergent. Various substances, such as ammonia and any acid, will cause the bleach to break down rapidly into sodum chloride (no problem) and chlorine. (eek.)
When in doubt, don't mix. When not in doubt, reconsider. Do not fuck around with this stuff.
Ammonia.
Like most modern Americans, I have little direct experience with ammonia. It's an effective anti-microbial, but the smell is off-putting and ammonia is quite toxic regardless of circumstances. That having been said, it will clean as well as kill germs. (Like alcohol, ammonia is a fairly powerful solvent. This explains its popularity as a glass cleaner.)
Phenols.
Don't let the sciency name scare you. Phenolic disinfectants are made primarily from pine oil. Lysol is probably the best known example in the United States. For our friends from over the pond, if I remember right, Dettol is also a phenolic. (It might be a quat, but I think it's a phenol.) Again, broad spectrum killing, (I'm really not wasting time with narrow spectrum here) and safe to use. Lysol is, unfortunately, getting to be tough to find these days. I know the company still produces it, but I've had virtually no luck finding the concentrate anymore. (And believe me, I've looked.)
Quats.
Quaternary Ammonium compounds. These are rarely available on the consumer market and are generally commercial janitorial products. That having been said, there are some available. (I've seen them on Amazon.) Quats are extremely effective, but are unfortunately also extremely expensive when they're available.
Steam.
Heat is one of the most effective sanitizing/sterilizing methods out there. Steam is an amazingly effective way of carrying heat. Fortunately, real steam cleaners are now available on the American market. (They've been popular in Europe for some time now. They largely started as a side business of espresso machine manufacturers.) The details of steam cleaners deserve a diary of their own, but overall shop carefully. There are a lot of bad ones out there. The other major drawback is cost. They're not cheap. A good general rule is if it costs $100 or less, keep going. The parts alone cost more than that. Additionally, if there's no tip temperature or at least boiler temperature listed, keep going. It's not a real steam cleaner. There are a whole lot of cheap ones that essentially just spray hot water. A real steam cleaner will list a tip/nozzle temperature of at least 215 degrees F. 220-230 isn't uncommon for high end models. The drawback is that an entry level vapor steam cleaner will probably set you back at least 400 USD. Even high end consumer models can cost 1600-2000 USD. Commercial models? I've seen prices of three to five thousand. Fortunately the lower end is usually enough.
Ultraviolet.
Ultraviolet light is quite harsh on microbes, and will kill most of them given time and exposure. Of note here is that UV lamps are usually rated by their wavelength. The most commonly available is UV-C. (290-100nm.) Direct exposure to UV-C can be quite dangerous, as it will attack your cells and DNA just as readily as it will microbes. UV-C can also produce ozone, although commercially available lamps use a quartz lens that mostly prevents this by absorbing the frequencies responsible. That having been said, I can smell ozone after I've used one. It's not a lot, but is something to bear in mind.
Ozone.
Ozone is another extremely effective sanitizer. The primary drawbacks are toxicity and instability. Ozone is amazingly toxic. This makes it an effective sanitizer, but also makes it somewhat dangerous to use. (The concentrations that are generally used really aren't all that dangerous, but built up concentrations can be.) The other major drawback is that ozone, (O3) is amazingly unstable. The reason you can't just walk into a department store and buy a bottle of ozonated water for cleaning is that it would never make it from the factory to the store. The shelf life of ozone dissolved in water is less than an hour. This means that if you're going to use ozone, you have to generate it on site. This effectively limits the use of ozone to commercial applications where people are willing to shell out the money for ozone generators.
This really isn't exactly the diary I had intended to write.... and as I sit here with stiff legs and bleary eyes, it occurs to me that this is going to end up being several diaries. I think my next one will be about the long string of myths and superstitions I've run into on this topic. (And oh, there are a lot of them.)