How to: Clean and Disinfect for Viruses and Other Pathogens

Per Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting viruses and other pathogens, any form of disinfection necessarily follows cleaning.  The process of cleaning will remove any residues that might shield any virus or pathogen from the disinfection step that comes next. For the avoidance of doubt, our products are cleaners and therefore make no claim to be a disinfectant which kills or inactivates biologic material.

Disinfection, following the thorough cleaning and rinsing, can be done with bleach solutions, 70% alcohol solutions, or other products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims.  As outlined by CDC, bleach solutions should reside on surface for at least one minute and can be made as follows:

• 5 tablespoons (1/3^rd cup) bleach per gallon of water, or
• 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water

An excellent cleaning and wiping solution can be made with 0.5% (0.75- 1.5 oz/gal or 5 mL/L) Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner or Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent, depending on preference for powder or liquid concentrate, respectively. Following which, per the CDC guidelines, wipe with the above bleach solution or other disinfectant solution. Allow wiped down surfaces to sit for several minutes before rinsing to complete the disinfection.

For extra thorough pre-cleaning, a 0.5% Tergazyme® Enzyme-Active Powdered Detergent is recommended as it contains a protein enzyme activated detergent solution.  The proteases will break down proteins such as the protein receptors found in some viruses and pathogens.  The coronavirus, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes the COVID-19 disease, contains these “prickly” protein receptors on their outer membrane.  Although we cannot claim to inactivate the coronavirus, Tergazyme detergent will remove some inanimate proteins.  Review further Tergazyme detergent details.

Adding bleach to 0.5% solutions of Alconox or Liquinox detergent is a recommended improvement to the bleach disinfection.  This will serve to foster enhanced wetting and penetration of the bleach. There is no adverse reaction between Alconox or Liquinox detergents and bleach as there is with some cleaners.  Other Alconox Inc. products you may have in-facility can be considered as well to enhance the bleach solution.

Note: Do not mix Tergazyme detergent and bleach together in the same solution as the enzyme will be deactivated by the bleach.

Please contact us to address questions and specific cleaning and sanitization needs regarding viruses, microbes and other contaminants.  We are here to help!

To request these or any Alconox Inc. detergent for free, please complete the questionnaire at Get Sample. For more information about any one of our Alconox Inc. detergents, consult the technical bulletin for each product. Or click here to access each of our detergent’s Safety Data Sheets.

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