4 ms·
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 m
by 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 agoC. 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 agoWhat? 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 agoHuh, I had always heard C. diff was a pretty common presence but very rarely symptomatic.