Disinfectants

Learn What They Are and How to Make Your Own in an Emergency Situation

- Joe Alton, MD

Maintaining the health of an off-grid community involves suppressing infections and keeping wounds clean. For these, you'll need antibiotics to destroy bacteria within the body and antiseptics for use on the skin. More, however, is needed to assure you'll avoid contamination that could lead to epidemic disease among your people: you'll need disinfectants.

A disinfectant is a substance used to eliminate disease-causing organisms (called "pathogens") on inert surfaces such as countertops and medical instruments. If these surfaces aren't disinfected, they can be teeming with germs. Contaminated instruments and sick room surfaces can get the entire group infected. The off-grid medic needs to have disinfectants on hand that can assure the health and safety of the people in their group.

Some disinfectants do double duty as antiseptics, but many are too harsh to apply to living skin, and, certainly, too strong for internal use. They work just fine, however, on work surfaces and other inanimate objects.

Sterile vs. Clean

A significant factor in the quality of medical care given off the grid is the level of cleanliness of the equipment used. You may have heard the terms "sterile" and "clean." What's the difference?

When it comes to medical protection, "sterility" means the complete absence of microbes. Sterile technique involves hand washing with special solutions and the use of sterile instruments, gloves, towels, and dressings. The "sterile field" is isolated to limit contact with anything that could allow micro-organisms to invade it.