Advantages of Thermal Surface Disinfection

Cleaning and drying a surface with a non-germicidal detergent is effective against some pathogens, but not all. Pathogens like Salmonella and toxigenic E. coli (gram-negative microorganisms) are generally adapted to wet environments, and so an initial removal is achieved when the surface is wiped and then drying helps to kill more germs – but this takes time and one can’t count on drying to remove germs entirely. The “clean and dry” approach may actually do more harm than good when it comes to the kinds of pathogens that survive well on surfaces (gram-positive microorganisms like MRSA or “Strep”). The problem is that contaminants are not evenly distributed on surfaces. Some spots will be highly contaminated while others will be more or less free from pathogens. Non-germicidal detergents can spread pathogens from contaminated spots to clean spots, thereby increasing the infection risk posed by the surface as a whole.