3 ms·

Alcohol kills most things very well. I'm a scientist that handles lots of nasty things like MRSA and gram negative organisms that have killed their human hosts

Alcohol kills most things very well. I'm a scientist that handles lots of nasty things like MRSA and gram negative organisms that have killed their human hosts and we spray our gloves with 70% ethanol and spray down our biosafety hoods with it as do almost all labs in the world. This is all moot probably because homes don't need disinfection (hygiene hypothesis implies you probably need the opposite) but alcohol will certainly kill most things. It would be extremely rare for you to need to kill exotic things like bacterial spores that need nuclear options like autoclaving to kill.

DoreenMichele 9y ago
Eh, the GP did mention provisos like immuno-suppressed individuals. That's perhaps more common than you think.
txcwpalpha 9y ago
As you're a scientist, I'd defer to your expertise, but I will mention that the situations where alcohol falls short are with spores and when cleaning certain materials. AFAIK, MRSA does not form spores, and so alcohol would work well for disinfecting it. Your gloves and hoods are also probably made of a material that is effectively cleaned by alcohol. On the other hand, C. difficile (a bacteria responsible for diahrea/stomach flu) does produce spores which are not killed by alcohol cleaners. Similarly, viruses like norovirus (also responsible for "stomach flu") are not effectively disinfected by alcohol, which is why I mentioned that if you're trying to clean up after a bout of stomach flu, you might want to reach for something stronger (like a bleach based cleaner).
- st26 9y ago
  C. diff is pretty much only killed by bleach, and not something most people deal with frequently, or you know, ever. These seem like rather special cases to be bringing up.
  - txcwpalpha 9y ago
    What? C. diff is one of the most common disease-causing bacterias [1]. Other examples like norovirus or C. perfringens (another spore-forming bacteria responsible for stomach flu) are also among the most common [2]. They aren't special cases at all. 1: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0225-clostridium-difficile.html https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0225-clostridium-di... 2: https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/index.html https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/...
    - st26 9y ago
      Huh, I had always heard C. diff was a pretty common presence but very rarely symptomatic.

DoreenMichele 9y ago

Eh, the GP did mention provisos like immuno-suppressed individuals. That's perhaps more common than you think.

txcwpalpha 9y ago

As you're a scientist, I'd defer to your expertise, but I will mention that the situations where alcohol falls short are with spores and when cleaning certain materials. AFAIK, MRSA does not form spores, and so alcohol would work well for disinfecting it. Your gloves and hoods are also probably made of a material that is effectively cleaned by alcohol. On the other hand, C. difficile (a bacteria responsible for diahrea/stomach flu) does produce spores which are not killed by alcohol cleaners. Similarly, viruses like norovirus (also responsible for "stomach flu") are not effectively disinfected by alcohol, which is why I mentioned that if you're trying to clean up after a bout of stomach flu, you might want to reach for something stronger (like a bleach based cleaner).

st26 9y ago
C. diff is pretty much only killed by bleach, and not something most people deal with frequently, or you know, ever. These seem like rather special cases to be bringing up.
- txcwpalpha 9y ago
  What? C. diff is one of the most common disease-causing bacterias [1]. Other examples like norovirus or C. perfringens (another spore-forming bacteria responsible for stomach flu) are also among the most common [2]. They aren't special cases at all. 1: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0225-clostridium-difficile.html https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0225-clostridium-di... 2: https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/index.html https://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/...
  - st26 9y ago
    Huh, I had always heard C. diff was a pretty common presence but very rarely symptomatic.