- Cleaning removes visible dirt or other contaminants but does not kill any microorganisms that may be responsible for the spread of disease in humans.
- Sanitizing kills 99.9% of staphylococcus aureus and klebsiella pneumoniae or enterobacter aerogenes only, within 5 minutes. This level of pathogen removal is not acceptable for healthcare institutions or medical/dental offices.
- Low-level disinfection is the process of killing from 99.9% to 99.999% of specific vegetative bacteria, fungi, and enveloped (lipophilic)viruses, which are listed on a product label. Low-level disinfection does not kill M. bovis (surrogate), the encapsulated mycobacteria responsible for the spread of tuberculosis, or non-enveloped (hydrophilic) viruses, or bacterial spores. This level of pathogen removal is not acceptable for healthcare institutions or medical/dental offices.
- Intermediate-level disinfection is the process of killing from 99.9% to 99.999% of specific vegetative bacteria, M. bovis, fungi, enveloped (lipophilic) viruses, and non-enveloped (hydrophilic) viruses, which are listed on a product label. Intermediate-level disinfection does not kill bacterial spores. Intermediate-level disinfectants are most commonly found in healthcare institutions and medical/dental offices, in the form of either liquid spray products or pre-saturated wipes, or both. Optimus Dental Supply offers several surface disinfectant wipes and surface disinfectant solutions that are intermediate-level disinfectants.
- High-level disinfection is the process of killing all the pathogens that are killed by intermediate-level disinfectants, as well as killing bacterial spores (i.e. Clostridium difficile). High-level disinfectants are liquid chemical products generally used to reprocess semi-critical and critical medical instruments, as an alternative to sterilization by means of autoclave, ethylene oxide gas or other traditional means of sterilization.
What is the difference between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting?
Feb 19th 2020