Disinfectant

“ A deodoriser is a substance which will absorb or destroy bad smells; an antiseptic is an agent which will prevent or retard putrefaction; and a disinfectant is an agent which will render harmless the virus of smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, influenza, pleuro-pneumonia, cattle plague, glanders, distemper in dogs, and other infectious or contagious diseases.
Now, medical authorities and sanitarians are of opinion that the most potent disinfectant with which we are acquainted is sulphurous acid, a gas which has been used for ages, as a fumigator. ”

“ A disinfectant is usually described as a substance capable of destroying bacteria and other micro-organisms, and an antiseptic as one that restrains or retards their growth or reproduction. This distinction is entirely arbitrary as the ability of a substance to kill organisms or merely inhibit their growth depends upon the concentration employed. ”

“ When a sufficient amount of the disinfectant has been forced into and through the bale, the disinfectant is turned off, and cold dry air can be forced through chamber M, and out through the nozzles and bale, whereby the material within the bale becomes cooled and dried, and all the foul air from the chamber A driven out, so that it may be opened and entered with safety. Any suitable disinfectant may be used with this apparatus, as, for example, sulphurous acid, in gas or solution, superheated steam, carbolic acid, or any solution or vapour containing chlorine. ”

“ While an antiseptic agent is not necessarily a disinfectant, all disinfectants are antiseptics; for putrefactive decomposition is due to the development of germs of the same class as that to which disease-germs belong, and the agents which destroy the latter also destroy the bacteria of putrefaction when brought in contact with them in sufficient quantity, or restrain their development when present in smaller amounts. ”

“ DISINFECTANTS, substances employed to neutralize the action of pathogenic organisms, and prevent the spread of contagious or infectious disease. The efficiency of any disinfectant is due to its power of destroying, or of rendering inert, specific poisons or disease germs. Therefore antiseptic substances generally are to this extent disinfectants. ”

“ The poison of the disinfectant or antiseptic, whether it be in liquid or in gas form, is the essence of the material, and since the value of disinfectants is based on the crude raw materials which any one can buy, it is clearly unnecessary to buy expensive patented solutions for disinfectants when ordinary lime or carbolic acid are equally as good and can be had at much lower prices. ”

“ It is not at all necessary to have vessels containing disinfectant substances standing about the room and in the closet. In a room adjoining should be kept all of the dishes used by the sick patient, his tray, half a dozen napkins, knife, fork, spoon, serving dishes, drinking glass, pitcher, etc. All bedding and all linen used by the sick member should be allowed to stand in a solution of disinfectant for several hours when they may be wrung out of the solution, dropped into a bucket and carried to the laundry without any danger to other members of the family. ”

“ Any agent which is used to destroy microörganisms is called a “disinfectant.” Material freed from living organisms is “sterile.”
The process of preventing the growth of organisms without reference to whether they are killed or removed is spoken of as “antisepsis,” and the agent as an antiseptic. Hence a mildly applied “disinfectant” becomes an “antiseptic,” though it does not necessarily follow that an “antiseptic” may become a disinfectant when used abundantly. Thus strong sugar solutions prevent the development of many organisms, though they do not necessarily kill them. ”

“ It is important to remember that the "personal equation" counts for something in choosing a disinfectant, some substances suiting one person and some suiting others. "One man's meat is another man's poison." It is also very desirable to "ring the changes" by using, say, lysol one day, something else the next, and so on. Using three or four simple disinfectants alternately on different days of the week tends to make the disinfectants less irritating and more efficacious, as well as adding a fresh interest to the toilet performance. ”

“ In some of these cases the destruction of the contagium is effected by the formation of new chemical compounds, by oxidation, deoxidation or other reaction, and in others the conditions favourable to life are removed or life is destroyed by high temperature. Among the first class, aerial or gaseous disinfectants, formic aldehyde has of late years taken foremost place. The vapour is a powerful disinfectant and deodorant, and for the surface disinfection of rooms, fulfils all requirements when used in sufficient amount. ”

“ Another disinfectant that may be used as a liquid or as a gas is formalin, which is a watery solution of the gas, formaldehyde. It is much more powerful in its action than sulphur, and has a great advantage over corrosive sublimate and other strong disinfectants in that it is not so poisonous to animals as it is to bacteria and fungi. ”

“ To disinfect excreta or putrefying solutions, enough disinfectant should be added to produce in the solution or matter being disinfected the percentage of disinfectant necessary to act as such. Adding a small quantity of antiseptic to a large volume of fluid or solid is as useless as pouring a small quantity of antiseptic down a sewer with the idea that such treatment will disinfect the sewage. ”

“ Many practitioners lose sight of the essential difference between antiseptics and disinfectants and employ antiseptics in cases in which only a disinfectant action would be of value. An antiseptic does not destroy bacteria, it merely inhibits their growth; and when it is diluted too much, it loses its effects and the bacteria may begin to multiply as though no antiseptic had been used. ”

“ Any substance may be regarded as a true disinfectant which, when added to a quantity of fluid swarming with bacteria, abolishes the reproductive power of these organisms. If the bacteria are capable of producing disease, or the poison of disease, a successful experiment has been made in the way of disinfection. ”

“ No one save the doctor or nurse should enter the room of the person quarantined. After the disease has run its course, the clothing, bedding, etc., in the sick room is fumigated. This is usually done by the board of health. Formaldehyde in the form of candles for burning or in a liquid form is a good disinfectant. In disinfecting the room should be tightly closed to prevent the escape of the gas used, as the object of the disinfection is to kill all the disease germs left in the room. ”

“ The means of disinfection, and the substances employed, are very numerous, as are the classes and conditions of disease and contagion they are designed to meet. Nature, in the oxidizing influence of freely circulating atmospheric air, in the purifying effect of water, and in the powerful deodorizing properties of common earth, has provided the most potent ever-present and acting disinfecting media. Of the artificial disinfectants employed or available three classes may be recognized:—1st, volatile or vaporizable substances, which attack impurities in the air ”

“ Pocket Disinfector.—One has often to go into unhealthy neighborhoods and places where disease germs lurk. A small flat can, filled with some disinfectant which could be conveniently squirted, would be not only a killer of offending odors, but also a saver of life. ”

“ It is desirable that a disinfectant should be an antiseptic—viz., an agent that arrests chemical change in animal or vegetable matters, and it must be a deodorizer, or capable of fixing the most noxious gases evolved. It has been erroneously believed that sulphuretted hydrogen is the principal deleterious gas which disinfectants have to encounter the worst kind of vermin to ferret out. ”

“ A disinfectant destroys the organisms, and at the same time removes the noxious products of fermentation and putrefaction. The conditions which favor putrefactive change are a moderate degree of warmth, air, and the presence of moisture and microorganisms. Measures which tend to limit the action of any of these agencies are antiseptic in character. Cold acts as an antiseptic, by bringing the article to be preserved to a temperature at which the putrefactive bacteria can no longer act. In the preservation of canned goods another principle is employed, that of exclusion of air. ”

“ A bad smell, for instance, may be smothered by some more powerful odor, while its cause remains uninfluenced. Bear also in mind the fact that no deodorizer and no disinfectant can take the place of perfect cleanliness and thorough ventilation. No purifyer can rival the oxygen contained in strong and continued currents of fresh, cold air, and every disinfectant finds an indispensable ally in floods of scalding water. ”

“ If a high enough temperature is maintained for a sufficient length of time, the action is absolutely destructive to all germs. Fire does, of course, destroy bacteria along with whatever material the bacteria [Pg 328] are concealed in, but such a disinfectant is of little value for ordinary purposes, since the object of disinfection is to destroy bacteria without destroying the surface on which they are lodged. In some old buildings, where consumption or smallpox, for example, has become permanent, it may be that the surest way of killing all the bacteria is to burn up the house. ”

“ While antiseptic agents may fail to fulfill the stronger purpose of disinfectants, they are known to exercise a restraining influence on the development of disease-germs, and their use during epidemics is recommended, when masses of organic material in the vicinity of human habitations can not be completely destroyed or removed, or disinfected. ”

“ If any building or room becomes infected with disease-producing bacteria, or if organisms causing abnormal fermentations become established in a factory, the use of a disinfectant that will destroy with great rapidity the life of bacteria is necessary. The disinfection of all types of dairy apparatus and utensils can be accomplished by thorough cleansing, and by the use of steam or boiling water. The disinfection of rooms and stables cannot be so readily accomplished.
Consideration must always be given to the resistance of the organism it is desired to destroy. ”

“ It is probable that many other forms of steam disinfector will be invented, and each will have its enthusiastic supporters. Even at the time of writing some excellent results are announced from America.
2. The effects of chemical substances as solutions, or in spray form, upon bacteria have been observed from the earliest days of bacteriology. To some decomposing matter or solution a disinfectant was added and sub-cultures made. If bacteria continued to develop, the disinfection had not been efficient; if, on the other hand, the sub-culture remained sterile, disinfection had been complete. ”

“ Having attempted to show that disinfection must be an everyday practice in the household, and that disinfectants must necessarily be harmless antiseptic deodorizers, it is not difficult to establish a code of rules of almost universal application. There is a caution that should be given at all times in a household: Servants cannot be expected to understand the use of disinfectants any more than they can be trusted to carry out a system of ventilation. Disinfection and ventilation, therefore, should, to a large extent, be automatic processes and, happily, such things are to be found. ”

“ A poor woman is sent to the oil shop for a little chloride of lime; a foul room is thereby rendered unbearable, the place has to be thrown open, disinfection is not attained, and the maximum of discomfort is attended with a minimum of benefit.
Some medical men are, I fear, blamable for not estimating with greater precision the real benefits derived from the use of volatile disinfectants. They are all irritating and of bad odor, and a popular belief has arisen that, unless they are foul and caustic, they can do no good service. ”

“ There has been much heated debate as to whether persons known to intend to expose themselves to possible infection should be provided with disinfectant or other arrangements for obviating infection. This cannot be done without some loss of moral position; it almost makes the provider a co-partner with the sensualist. ”

“ The explanation is offered that the antiseptics enter into combination with the capsule of the cell and can be freed from it by breaking up this chemical combination. It has always been evident that very minute quantities of germicidal substances, and some substances which are not germicidal, would prevent the growth of bacteria, so that it is not surprising that chemical disinfectants should act in this prolonged inhibitory way. It must be remembered that in operative surgical work, germs which [Pg 13] will not develop are, for practical purposes, as good as dead ”

“ Disinfectant to be of real use must be strong and powerful, and it is dangerous 44to distribute such powerful drugs promiscuously. Several of our patients have tried to commit suicide by drinking even the weak preparation that we gave them. On the whole, we believe that an anti-tuberculosis society would lose nothing by omitting disinfectant from its list of prophylactic supplies, and better results could be obtained by substituting a thorough grounding as to the value of soap and water. ”