Disinfecting Exposed Surfaces

The best prevention at this time against any biowar agent such as smallpox or anthrax is isolation (self-quarantine): minimize contact with people. Most biowar agents are an airborne pathogens and contact is possible within ten feet of a person. Keep a supply of surgical face masks and Latex gloves on hand, as well as disinfectant materials (below).

Due to the actual use of anthrax laden letters in the U.S. Mail as a biowar agent in the fall of 2001, many people now have a slight fear of contracting anthrax. Anthrax spores were found on diplomatic mail in Lima, Peru, Islamabad, Yekaterinburg, Lahore, Vilnius, in the offices of Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Tom Daschle, as well as various Eastern and Midwest post offices, and two of the five deaths attributed to anthrax in the past month have not had an identified link to those letters, although cross contamination is suspected.

Anthrax spores can be killed quite readily in several ways available to citizens. Anthrax spores are killed by a combination of heat and moisture. Letter mail can be sterilized by simply using a steam iron set on "linen" and using a lot of steam while pressing the letters, then disinfecting the ironing surface with the solution mentioned below.

Area or surface disinfection can be accomplished by using an acidic bleach solution. For counter tops and exposed surface sterilization purposes, an acidic bleach solution can be applied with a sponge or towel, but be sure to wear latex gloves. If the acidic bleach solution is used in a plastic pressure garden sprayer for outside use, this solution would also sterilize driveways, vehicles, etc. Just remember this caustic solution should be cleaned off any exposed surfaces after 10 or 15 minutes by flushing repeatedly with water, as almost nothing is more prone to cause rusting on any metal surface than this oxidization solution. Soap may be used in the cleaning solution as a surfacent, but DO NOT use any product containing ammonia on or with a bleach solution, as the combination of bleach and ammonia create mustard gas

The following disinfecting solution was discovered by Norman Miner, a microbiologist and owner at MicroChem Laboratory in Fort Worth, Texas, specializing in germicidal chemistry. He and some scientists there were looking for something common that would kill bacillis anthracis and other assorted nasties. According to Miner, this solution kills bacillus subtilis, which is the most resistant of all bacillis spores -- even more so than anthrax. The solution wiped out b. subtilis within one minute. This was the wet spore test. They then ground up the b. subtilis and dried it. The solution killed all the spores within ten minutes. This solution supposedly kills everything from anthrax to Ebola to smallpox to anything else you can think of. The "trick" is the acidified bleach, which changes the normal pH of the HOCl and super-powers it.

The composition is:

• 1 cup (8 oz) bleach

• 1 1/2 gallons (6 quarts) water

• 1 1/2 cups 5% vinegar

Mix the bleach and water, then add the vinegar. Use a plastic bucket if possible, and stir with a stainless steel utensil or a wooden stick. This is a highly reactive oxidizer, so a reactive metal such as an aluminum pot should NOT be used.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Site Index