Disinfectants: safe and/or effective?

Disinfectants are products that are potentially hazardous to human health and the environment, and in this regard, the excess concentration of working solutions can cause undesirable situations that require careful monitoring. On the other hand, it is very important to ensure the effective use of drugs. However, if the concentration of funds is lower than recommended in the guidelines, it is impossible to achieve the desired result. At the same time, the analytical and instrumental methods for monitoring active substances in disinfectants proposed in the guidelines do not allow controlling working solutions directly during their preparation and use.

Particularly complicating the work is the need to control different disinfectants; for example, the analysis of agents based on active chlorine, quaternary ammonium compounds, tertiary amines, peroxide compounds, aldehydes, phenols, which requires the use of different methods for the determination and, accordingly, the preparation of different reagents and indicators. This analysis should be carried out in the laboratory by qualified specialists with special equipment and chemicals. In large medical institutions where there are laboratories, control over the content of active substances in working solutions of disinfectants is carried out quarterly, but where there are no laboratories, the content of active substances is not controlled at all or is controlled periodically.

No matter how effective the disinfectants used, an error in preparation, improper storage or use of working solutions will negate the effectiveness of disinfection measures, and funds and resources may be wasted; the measures taken will not give the necessary results, and in some cases will harm the staff and customers. The use of simple techniques for controlling active substances in reusable disinfectants can solve many problems. Thus, the use of express control methods makes a decrease in the concentration of working solutions practically unacceptable.

The most promising method of express control is the development of indicator strips and sets of chemical reagents. Due to the fact that working with chemical reagent kits requires highly qualified specialists, financial costs and the availability of special equipment, the development of test strips seems to be more cost-effective. Indicator strips have a number of advantages: easy to use; do not require special equipment and chemicals; operational; can be used directly at the workplace; provide high accuracy of research; have a relatively low cost.

In addition, indicator strips make it possible to control the presence of traces of quaternary ammonium compounds in flush water, as well as the completeness of washing equipment after disinfection with such disinfectants.

Indicators in the form of napkins allow you to confirm the fact of disinfection. Napkins have been introduced into practice and are used when using preparations based on chlorine and quaternary ammonium compounds. Depending on the presence and concentration of active substances, the wipes change their color.

Thus, at present there is a fairly large selection of disinfectants, for which indicators of the express method for monitoring the concentration of active substances in working solutions and disinfection have been developed and put into practice. This method allows real-time operational control at the workplace and makes disinfection efficient and safe.