Disinfection

Understanding biocidal efficacy

The key to effective disinfection is to understand how contagious bacteria and viruses can be. Rates can vary depending on the strain, however as few as 10 viral particles or bacteria can be sufficient to trigger infection in an individual.  

Effective kill rate

Biocidal efficacy standards use log reductions to demonstrate efficacy of products against a variety of bacteria, fungi and viruses. It is vital that the log reductions reduce the contaminated area to below 10 particles to ensure protection. While levels of bacteria and viruses vary depending upon locations, regularity of cleaning and surface type, sneezing and coughing releases hundreds of thousands of particles and contaminated areas can carry millions of bacteria or virus particles. A product that can kill to: 

• 3-log reduces 10,000 particles to 10 but anything above that level leaves a potential for infection 
• 4-log reduces 100,000 particles to 10 but anything above that level leaves a potential for infection 
• 5-log reduces 1,000,000 particles to 10 but anything above that level leaves a potential for infection 
• 6-log reduces 10,000,000 particles to 10 and is typical of high levels that would only be found except in exceptional circumstances 

Nothing is more important than effective kill. Lactic acid has four broad-acting mechanisms of microbial kill, meaning that the development of resistance is far less likely than for agents which rely on a singular mechanism of action. The four modes of biocidal action achieved by lactic acid are:

• Damage to outer cell membranes, causing leakage of cell contents
• Attacks to other cell structures, including proteins, DNA and RNA
• Prevention of protein synthesis
• Arresting energy production by the cell

Efficacy is the most crucial part of our product makeup, particularly in light of the COVID pandemic and other public health issues, such as Monkeypox. Our Surface and Hand Sanitisers have a suite of EN test data carried out by independent, UKAS-accredited laboratories.