FRIDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Acidified laundry bleach diluted with white vinegar is an effective sterilizing agent in case of an anthrax emergency, according to research presented this week during the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense Research Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Norman Miner of MicroChem Lab, Inc. in Euless, Texas, and colleagues soaked porcelain and polyester "carriers" in a culture of Bacillus subtilis, a non-pathogenic bacillus as resistant to disinfectants as Bacillus anthracis. The carriers were dried and exposed to bleach diluted with tap water and white vinegar.
The researchers found that the bleach at pH 6.5 sterilized all the carriers within 20 minutes, while the bleach at pH 11 did not sterilize any carriers.
"In an emergency involving B. anthracis spores, virtually every household has a sterilant available in the form of diluted, acidified bleach," the authors write. "Bacterial spores dried onto surfaces are considered the most resistant to disinfectants of all microbes, and a disinfectant that can kill such spores would be expected to also kill all types of vegetative bacteria, fungi, mycobacteria (TB) and viruses."
Abstract (p. 56, 221H)
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