Disinfection
From IDWiki
Background
- Disinfection is a process that eliminates many or all pathogenic microbes on inanimate objects, with the exception of spores
- Chemical sterilants are disinfectants that will kill spores with prolonged exposure (2 to 12 hours)
- High-level disinfectants will kill all microorganisms except large numbers of bacterial spores within a shorter amount of time (e.g. 20 minutes)
- Low-level disinfectants will kill most vegetative bacteria, some fungi, and some viruses within a short amount of time (e.g. 10 minutes)
- Intermediate-level disinfectants may be cidal for mycobacteria, vegetative bacteria, most viruses, and most fungi, but are not sporicidal
