On Thu, 10 Sep 1998 03:53:55 -0300, Bernie MacLennan
<bmaclenn at uccb.ns.ca> wrote:
>What are most people using for routine disinfection practices in
>undergraduate microbiology labs.
>>Bernie MacLennan
One thing that is used is ethanol. There are two schools of thought,
though: 100% and 70%. Some believe that the 70% is more effective
because the 100% dessicates as well as denatures proteins. As a
result, 100% can leave more viable spores than 70%, which denatures
the proteins, but does not dessicate as much, killing more of the
spores.
Of course, you need to be careful around open flames. Where I used to
work, the first person in in the morning would spritz down all of the
hoods, turn them on, and go do other things while the alcohol
evaporated. I can only remember one (major) fire which melted part of
the plastic laminar flow hood grid. Of course there are minor spills
and fires, but nothing that did any damage.
