Find what a disinfectant is and how disinfectants work in this guide to commercial cleaning practices: a complete guide to using disinfectants.
Find what a disinfectant is and how disinfectants work in this guide to commercial cleaning practices: a complete guide to using disinfectants.
Disinfectants are an important line of defence against harmful microorganisms that can cause disease in people. This includes diseases such as MRSA, E. coli, and Influenza. Protecting your staff, your business and your customers from these harmful microorganisms is critical. It is important to know how disinfectants work, when they should be used and what products to buy. This guide answers those questions and more. So, to learn what a disinfectant is and how they stop the spread of harmful microorganisms, scroll down.
The word disinfectant firstly is a regulatory term. It denotes a technology capable of killing or inactivating pathogenic microorganisms, but also that the technology adheres to certain regulatory standards. A related word is biocide, which is more general in application. Anything capable of killing another thing is a biocide. Disinfectants are a specific group of biocides which act on pathogenic microorganisms while biocides can include insecticides, herbicides, and rodenticides, which are all regulated in different ways.
How disinfectants are regulated varies by country, but all disinfectants have the ability to pass certain standardized microbiology tests. What this means in practice is that using a disinfectant on a surface substantially reduces the risk of pathogenic microorganisms from the surface being transferred to people where they can cause infections. In essence disinfecting surfaces is a form of decontamination, which improves the hygiene of the surface.
How does a disinfectant work? Disinfectants can work by a variety of methods depending on the disinfectant technology and the targeted pathogen. For bacteria, disinfectants work primarily by disrupting the metabolism of microorganisms, usually by breaking down their cell walls. This process renders a bacteria inactive or in a state whereby its potential for causing infection is severely diminished. For fungi and viruses, the method of efficacy can be different depending on the fungi or virus structure. However the effect is the same, taking an infectious pathogen and rendering it unable to infect people.
Finally, we should also distinguish what disinfectants do compared to antiseptics and antibiotics. Antiseptics are biocides used directly on intact skin. This can include alcohol-based hand rubs and preparations used on skin prior to surgery. Antibiotics are a class of drugs that are biocidal inside the body. While these terms sound similar, they represent very different things.
Disinfectants come in a variety of forms and can be used to protect against a plethora of potentially harmful bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Because disinfectants are regulated, how claims are made about the microorganisms they kill/inactivate are controlled by the regulations. In most countries a disinfectant will have efficacy claims against certain pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Common examples include Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Aspergillus (mould), influenza, and coronaviruses. Product labels are the best source of information about the specific efficacy claims a disinfectant makes.
You should use a disinfectant on any environmental or inert surface that is exposed to potentially harmful microorganisms. Disinfectants are widely used in commercial facilities, while in the home, cleaning of the surface may be adequate to control the risk of pathogens on the surface. In a commercial facility the facility management will have a hygiene plan for how to care for all the surfaces in the facility.
Disinfectants may be formulated with different active ingredients. Common types of disinfectants include:
In commercial facilities, disinfectants are commonly used on surfaces likely to receive frequent hand contact, such as:
Some surfaces are absorbent and may not be suitable for use with disinfectants. This includes:
This type of “soft surface” will generally be laundered to reduce pathogen risk or may receive some other type of cleaning if it cannot be disinfected. A surface that cannot be made more hygienic by standard commercial cleaning practices may not be appropriate for commercial facilities.
Bacterial cells are protected by a protein-based membrane called phospholipids. In fact, the cells actually have two layers of protection. The heads of the cell membrane are hydrophilic, which means they attract water molecules. These molecules keep the organism alive.
A disinfectant works by penetrating the cell membrane and breaking down its molecular bonds. This essentially removes the cell's outer layers of protection and causes what's inside to leak out, which typically leads to rapid cell death for the bacteria.
Disinfectants don't typically work instantly. They need to be left for a while so that the chemical compound has time to work, which is referred to as the contact time for the disinfectant. The disinfectant contact time will be listed on the product label and needs to be followed to achieve the full effect of the disinfectant. During the contact time the surface should remain visibly wet or the disinfectant may stop working.
Commercial disinfectants are designed to be used in a single application with contact times of 5 min or less common today.
Some misconceptions about disinfectants are;
You should now know what a disinfectant does and how disinfectants work. To put this knowledge into action and protect your business, you need the right products. Diversey offers a range of high-quality, commercial-grade disinfectants for all surfaces and settings, such as Oxivir Excel. From hospitals and care homes to offices and public buildings, our disinfectants will protect your business and its customers.
Some of the Oxivir Disinfectant Cleaners you should try are:
Along with the information in this guide, as well as our range of products, you can click here to learn the six steps to effectively disinfect surfaces.