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Public Health SectorDisinfectants and health care: Two terms that are closely linked. Especially those involved in the healthcare sector (doctors‘ and dentists‘ practices, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) have a great need for high-quality disinfectants. Sanosil disinfectants with boosted hydrogen peroxide for surface disinfection by spraying and wiping or nebulised for whole-room disinfection are always a good choice for hygiene professionals.
When Sir Joseph Lister first used phenol to disinfect operations in his hospital in the 1960s, he had no idea that the use of disinfectants would revolutionise medicine. By using carbolic acid, which had already been successfully used for disinfection in the sewage sector, he managed to reduce the infection rate in his patients from 50 to 15 percent.
A few years earlier, Ignatz Semmelweis discovered the importance of hand disinfection in hospitals using chlorinated lime solution as a disinfectant. However, he was fiercely opposed by his colleagues in medicine, who dismissed his theories of micro-organisms and the importance of unwashed hands on the health or survival of patients as absurd. After all, that would have meant that the doctors themselves would have caused the death of countless patients…
At the latest, the work of important microbiologists such as Robert Koch brought about a breakthrough in medical microbiology. And at the same time, the search for suitable disinfectants began. Because depending on the area of application, completely different disinfecting substances are used.
It was discovered early on that, for example, hospitals do not need the same disinfectants for hand disinfection as for surface disinfection. Instrument disinfection has different requirements than floor disinfection in a doctor’s office, and skin disinfection before surgical interventions, in turn, should not be confused with disinfecting wound treatment.
When purchasing a disinfectant, it is therefore imperative to pay attention to the advertised intended use. Incorrectly selected disinfectants can not only result in a lack of efficacy, but can also lead to material damage (e.g. through corrosion). A hand disinfectant, for example, is quite unsuitable for floor disinfection in doctors‘ surgeries. And a disinfectant for instrument disinfection is no good as a skin disinfectant.
Not only the requirements for the intended use of a disinfectant differ, but also its disinfecting suitability. Not only the necessary exposure time is differentiated, but also whether the suitability certificate or the suitability test was issued according to a standardised procedure (EN test) with or without organic load. The following efficacies are usually claimed for medical disinfectants:
When choosing a disinfectant, it is therefore important to consider not only the intended use, but also the range of efficacy. Only if the intended use, efficacy, method of application and exposure time are compatible can the disinfectant be used.
