When "Clean" Isn't Enough: Why You Need a Strong Disinfectant

2020-09-18T09:36:00-05:00

Today, it’s more important than ever to keep your environment clean, especially as we all cope with the state of a post-pandemic world. COVID-19 has taught us the benefits of keeping our home and workplace as clean as possible as a hedge against infection, and it’s a lesson we need to keep in mind to help preserve the health and wellness of all of us going forward.

It’s obvious that it’s beneficial to keep the hard surfaces and objects around your home or place of work clean. Yet in many cases “clean” doesn’t always mean sanitized or disinfected. In fact, there are some types of pathogens that can survive in an exposed environment for longer than you would expect, even after being treated with a regular cleaning agent. This is why you need to ensure you disinfect as well as clean.

Viruses, Bacteria, and Pathogens, Oh My!

There are two very good reasons why you need both a powerful cleanser and disinfectant when it comes to taking care of environmental pathogens. The first is that there are a number of bacterial strains that are extremely hardy when it comes to surviving in the open world on surfaces. These “Gram-positive” bacteria have thick cell walls that act as strong protection against the elements for these bacteria, and this means they can survive for hours or even days on a disinfected surface.

Second, and this is perhaps even more important, is that viruses like the novel coronavirus can also survive on hard surfaces as well. While these viruses might not survive nearly as long as a Gram-positive, they can survive long enough to infect you or the people around you without ensuring these surfaces are disinfected and sanitized. With the COVID-19 pandemic showing us how much impact a viral infection can have on our global civilization, taking steps to control the spread of the coronavirus (and other viruses that are even harder to kill) makes disinfecting your environment even more crucial for the safety of everyone.

Safe in More Ways Than One

Safety is always a number-one concern with cleaners and disinfectants. That’s because there’s more than one kind of safe, after all: safe from pathogens, and also safe to use. If something’s strong enough to kill viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens, it’s often also strong enough to be toxic if ingested, inhaled, or otherwise comes into contact with people. This can certainly pose a problem in high-traffic areas or in environments where you have elderly, children or pets.

It’s not impossible to find strong disinfectants that are safe to use, however. Quarternary ammonia-based cleaners such as Emergicide offer capable cleaning and sanitizing power, with the ability to kill the most dangerous viruses and Gram-positive bacteria while also being completely safe for humans and animals when dry. There’s a reason these cleaners are used in environments like hospitals and veterinary offices!

The Final Word on Cleaning and Disinfecting

There’s no reason why your home or place of business can’t be as clean and sanitized as a high-risk, high-traffic environment like a hospital, doctor’s office, or animal care center. Make sure you use a cleanser that has strong, powerful, and safe disinfecting action and you can rest easy that your environment is safe — because there’s no such thing as being too careful in a post-COVID world.

What Is Gram Positive Bacteria and How Do We Kill It?

2020-09-14T10:37:00-05:00

If you read the labels of germ-fighting antibacterial cleaners, you’ve likely seen some interesting terms. One of the most common is “Gram positive”, and it’s used to describe a specific type of bacteria. The description is helpful; as there are anywhere upward of 10,000 types of bacteria out there in the world, and having an easy way to classify them has some major advantages! In this case, let’s take a look at what it actually means for a bacteria to be classified as Gram positive — and, more importantly, how to kill it.

What “Gram Positive” Means

As a classification, Gram positive is useful because it’s one of the two categories that all known bacteria fit into. It should come as no surprise that the other category is known as Gram negative. So it’s clear that if your bacteria isn’t one, it’s the other, but what exactly does it mean to have a Gram positive bacteria?

In a nutshell, it all comes down to how the cell membrane is structured in these different bacteria. Some have a thick layer made up of a mesh of both amino acids and sugars, called peptidoglycan; some do not. Those that do have this thicker cell wall are known as Gram positive, while those that lack it are known as Gram negative. The term itself is named after Hans Christian Gram, the Danish bacteriologist that pioneered a way to test whether there was peptidoglycan present in the cell walls of a specific bacteria or not.

Gram developed a dye that reacted with peptidoglycan, staining it purple whenever it was present and making it stand out when viewed under a microscope. Bacteria without the layer tested negative by not absorbing the stain, thus prompting the terms “Gram positive” and “Gram negative”.

Dealing With Gram Positive Bacteria

Knowing whether a specific bacteria is Gram positive or not is essential, as you can then take specific steps to kill this bacteria using the most effective methods. This is because Gram positive bacteria react differently to the environment than Gram negative ones, and it all comes down to that peptidoglycan outer layer.

While Gram positive bacteria have that thick outer layer, this ironically makes them more susceptible to being killed by antibiotics and sanitizing agents. Peptidoglycan is highly absorbent, making it easier for antimicrobial agents to take care of it. Gram negative bacteria, meanwhile, might have a thinner cell wall, but these bacteria are much less absorbent.

In other words, it’s much easier to use cleansers and sanitizing agents to get rid of harmful Gram positive bacteria than it is to do away with Gram negative bacteria. Thankfully, Gram negative bacteria have other vulnerabilities that their Gram positive counterparts lack; Gram negative bacteria, for instance, cannot survive very long on dry surfaces.

Understanding Effectiveness Against Gram Positive Bacteria

Understanding what Gram positive bacteria is and how it differs from other types of bacteria is an important step in keeping your environment clean and sanitized. Since it can survive on dry surfaces for long periods of time, it’s important to clean those surfaces regularly with a disinfectant that’s effective against these types of bacteria. Doing so can keep your environment safer and more germ-free for everyone. And what is the best cleaning disinfectant? Quats.

Quats, like Emergicide and KennelSol have proven for decades as being excellent for the various disinfection needs of business and animal care facilities, especially when thinking of Gram-positive microorganisms. Gram-positive microbes are unable to mount an adequate defense to the assault Quats place upon their cell membrane and the components inside of these bacteria. In addition, because Quats play well with other chemicals during the formulation process, they can be engineered for a broad range of effectiveness against many different types of microorganisms. They also demonstrate excellent cleaning ability – which accounts for upwards of 90% of one’s success at battling disease transmission.

GreenPlanet Scientific Blog