HEALTHY, WEALTHY & WISE
MARCH 2018
Published exclusively for clients of DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration
In This Issue
Bacteria, Fungi Spores,
Oh My!
Mortgage Interest
Deduction and the New
Tax Plan
Facts to Teach Your New
Teen Driver
Wellness Retreats
Recipe: Grilled Beef Fajitas
Good Clean Funnies
Moneywise: Annoying Chip
Readers
Bacteria, Fungi Spores, Oh My!
When you are in the business of cleaning,
questions often arise regarding disinfecting
and sanitizing. Recent Flu epidemics and
the MRSA strain of bacteria have raised
concerns among people regarding how to
protect from possible infection. Fortunately,
antimicrobials offer protection from unseen
germs and bacteria on many surfaces.
There are three levels of antimicrobials that
kill or limit microbes and the spores that
they use to reproduce.
Sterilizer
A sterilizer kills 100% of microbes and
spores. In the spectrum of antimicrobial
activity, a sterilizer is the strongest.
Sterilization is impractical for everyday use
because bacterial and fungal spores are
extremely difficult to destroy. Extreme heat
is one method of sterilization, but it is not
practical outside of a medical environment.
Chemical sterilizers are toxic, corrosive
irritants that are not safe for use by the
general public.
703.520.5060
www.dnaproclean.com
Sanitizers
To sanitize a surface means to reduce levels
of harmful microbes to a safe level. Most
chemicals sanitizers have little or no effect
on certain bacteria like Tuberculosis, and
improper use may create resistant strains of
harmful bacteria.
Disinfectants
Disinfectant is an EPA regulated term
that can only be used on the label of
products that have been tested and
proven to kill or destroy at least 99.9%
of all microorganisms; this doesn’t mean
they destroy spores. There are a variety
of disinfectants available to consumers,
including common household bleach.
Caution must be exercised when using
bleach or any other EPA registered
disinfectant to follow label directions
carefully as misuse can lead to damage to
materials or health risks.
Disinfectants are named as to what kind
of organisms they kill. The suffix cide,
meaning “to kill” is added after the type of
microorganism it targets. So a bactericide
kills bacteria, fungicide kills fungi, and a
virucide destroys viruses. Read the label to
find out what the product is designed to do.
Making the Choice
What should you use? Since sterilizers are
only needed for critical jobs like surgical
instruments, we are left with disinfectants
and sanitizers. As we have seen, sanitizers
do not have the “kill power” that
disinfectants do. So why would you choose
to use a sanitizer instead of a disinfectant?
You make the decision by weighing the risk
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