ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
Open Access
THE PRACTITIONER’S TOOL KIT
James J. Balsamo, Jr., MS, MPH, MHA, RS, CP-FS, CSP, CHMM, DEAAS Nancy Pees Coleman, MPH, PhD, RPS, RPES, DAAS
Disinfectant Versus Sanitizer
Brian Collins, MS, REHS, DLAAS Gary P. Noonan, CAPT (Retired), MPA, RS/REHS, DEAAS Robert W. Powitz, MPH, PhD, RS, CP-FS, DABFET, DLAAS Vincent J. Radke, MPH, RS, CP-FS, CPH, DLAAS Charles D. Treser, MPH, DEAAS
tact surfaces as well as hand sanitizers, anti- septic washes, and antibacterial soaps. The legal definitions for chemicals used on environmental surfaces, including changes in testing and use regulation, were started in 2012 by U.S. EPA in 40 CFR §158.2203. We are taking the liberty of expanding on those definitions for our understanding as environ- mental health professionals and sanitarians. These definitions are especially important for professionals in institutional environmental health practice, as well as professionals who work with body art, schools, and emergency response. Should you need it, we have also appended several U.S. EPA document refer- ences (see Sidebar) that will provide further information and detail. Disinfectant For an antimicrobial product to qualify as a nonfood contact surface disinfectant, it must irreversibly inactivate or destroy at least 5 log10 (99.999%) of bacteria, fungi, and viruses but not necessarily bacterial spores in the inanimate environment. In current U.S. regulatory language, a disinfectant is a product that completely destroys all specific test organisms in 10 minutes under condi- tions of the AOAC Use Dilution Test. In the normal course of hospital application, it was felt that at least 10 minutes of contact (dwell) time was needed to accomplish this objective. When contact times are <10 minutes, unless otherwise specified through further testing, it becomes exceedingly dicult to get any kind of meaningful results. Therefore, when using a disinfectant at proper use concentration, it is vital to ensure that an actual 10-minute contact time is achieved.
Editor’s Note: The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) strives to provide relevant and useful information for environmental health practitioners. In a recent membership survey, we heard your request for information in the Journal that is more applicable to your daily work. We listened and are pleased to feature this column from a cadre of environmental health luminaries with over 300 years of combined experience in the environmental health field. This group will share their tricks of the trade to help you create a tool kit of resources for your daily work. The conclusions of this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the ocial position of NEHA, nor does it imply endorsement of any products, services, or resources mentioned. W e often use the words disinfec- tant and sanitizer interchange- ably. To be sure, both word
The best working definition was written by someone at Hillyard Chemical. This anony- mous author deserves our thanks for doing so. We are taking the liberty of paraphrasing this piece of common sense for brevity of explanation. Here goes: “The dierence between a disinfectant and a sanitizer is one of specific appli- cations. Whereas those of us who work in the healthcare and healthcare-related industry are interested in disinfectant performance data, those of us who work in public health and particularly in food service-related industries are guided by the U.S. Public Health Ser- vice and are primarily concerned with sanitizer claims. The actual dierence between the two terms is a matter of legal definition.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) regulates disinfectants and sani- tizers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates sanitizers used on food con-
derivations mean much of the same thing: to reduce or eliminate germs from an en- vironmental surface. There is a dierence, however, in their definition and application. While they might have similar chemical composition, each is expected to perform with a specified contact time on a surface and each has a singular expected microbial destruction endpoint. Therefore, the more we know about these compounds—along with their uses and limi- tations—the better we are able to provide guidance to our clients in the “what, when, where, and how” of cleaning that is necessary to protect against environmentally mediated disease transfer. And yes, cleaning is part of disinfection and sanitizing. In fact, clean- ing is the most crucial step and is absolutely essential because you can neither disinfect nor sanitize a dirty surface. Period.
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Volume 86 • Num)er 10
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