Dish_The

Dishing the dirt...facts about germs

What are 'germs'?

The term 'germ' is not a scientific term. The basic
understanding of it is that it includes microorganisms, some
of which are harmful and some of which aren't. To be more
specific, germs could be categorised as bacteria, viruses,
fungi, mycobacteria and bacterial spores. Bacterial spores
(like Clostridium difficile spores) are the most difficult to
destroy in our environment. They are also highly contagious
and cause potentially fatal infections.

Disinfectants that can destroy these different types of
microorganism are classified in the following ways:

• Sporicidal - destroys bacterial spores.
• Bactericidal - destroys bacteria.
• Fungicidal - destroys fungi.
• Virucidal - destroys viruses.

Click here for more information about sporicidal
disinfection.

If a disinfectant is classed as sporicidal, like most of the
Tristel products, then it is capable of destroying bacterial
spores. If it can destroy spores, then it is likely that it is more
than capable of destroying the other types of germs as they
are "easier" to destroy.

It is also worth noting that if a disinfectant specifically claims
to destroy or kill a particular microorganism, then the
products should have been independently tested against
that microorganism.

The danger of the term 'germ'

As it is not a scientific term it can be interpreted in different
ways. Therefore a claim by a product to kill "all toilet germs"
for example could imply that it can kill all of the types of
germs mentioned above or just one of them. A lack of
regulation in the consumer market means that sellers of
cleaner-disinfectants can make misleading claims that trick
consumers into buying products. This is done by playing on
their fears and general lack of microbial understanding.

These kind of misleading statements are not very helpful,
because they do not say what kinds of microorganisms will
or won't be destroyed. So it is important to select products
that specifically mention their capabilities, and have been
proven to be "virucidal", "fungicidal", "bactericidal" and/or
"sporicidal" by independent tests. As mentioned before, if a
product claims to be sporicidal, then it is most likely to be
virucidal, fungicidal, and bactericidal too. This is because
bacterial spores are more resistant to disinfectants than other microorganisms.

Thankfully there is far more regulation in the hospital industry
in the UK. Tristel's cleanser-disinfectants are classed as
medical devices by the regulatory bodies concerned, and
have been proven to be sporicidal by independent
laboratories.

Other useful resources:

• Germ hot-spots
• Sporicidal disinfection
• Dangerous infections
• Our Advanced Technology