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THE DISINFECTANT PROPERTIES OF QUATERNARY AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS AND SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE: A COMPARISON OF RESULTS USING DIFFERENT TEST METHODS
Author(s) -
GARVIE ELLEN I.,
CLARKE PAMELA M.
Publication year - 1955
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1955.tb02065.x
Subject(s) - disinfectant , relative humidity , sodium hypochlorite , ammonium , staphylococcus aureus , humidity , chemistry , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , organic chemistry , physics , genetics , thermodynamics
SUMMARY: On exposing a strain of Bacterium coli 28.D.10 in a surface film at atmospheric temperature to atmospheres of different moisture contents, it was found that for relative humidities between 100 and 66% the numbers of survivors decreased with decreasing humidity. There was also some evidence of a slight increase in survivors for a decrease in relative humidity from 43 to 0%. The percentage of survivors of Bact. coli after exposure to quaternary ammonium disinfectants also decreased with relative humidity between 100 and 66% but no significant differences were found for changes in relative humidity below 66%. The numbers of survivors of a culture of Staphylococcus aureus were the same after storage at a relative humidity of 43% as at 100%; drying did not appear to affect the sensitivity of Staph. aureus to quaternary ammonium compounds. Tests of the effect of storage time in a saturated atmosphere gave results which were not entirely consistent, but where differences were observed, there was a lower percentage of survivors for freshly inoculated films than for films which had been stored for 3 hr, presumably because a fresh film was more easily removed to the disinfectant. When either Bact. coli or Staph. aureus was exposed to a disinfectant, the percentage of survivors was higher when the organisms were in a surface film than when they were inoculated directly into the disinfectant. Agitation during exposure reduced the numbers of survivors from a surface film. Neither the glass nor the metal coming in contact with the disinfectants affected the level of survivors. Under the conditions of testing, sodium hypochlorite was a more effective disinfectant than the quaternary ammonium compounds used.