Disinfectants play an important role in the daily routine of many of our colleagues. In a breeding environment, veterinary practice or research facility, the purpose of a quality disinfectant can not be overstated. It appears that in many situations compromises are being made thereby maintaining a less than optimum level of decontamination. The reason seems to be an inadequate knowledge of current product capabilities, and part of this problem stems from a lack of detailed specific product evaluation.
Many locations actually divide their usage between two products, bleach and chlorhexidine.
Routine cleaning was done with chlorhexidine, and bleach at twenty to one dilution was used where a greater margin of efficacy was required. Chlorhexidine almost seems a waste of time given it's low ratio of effectiveness and bleach, although more effective and inexpensive, has many undesirable characteristics. There have been a number of broad based articles written in recent years comparing most of the available disinfectant types. However, an article written about the Susceptibility of Avian Polyoma virus to Inactivation study done by the University of Georgia was very specific in terms of product usage, and their effectiveness against Polyoma virus. I felt the disinfectants found most effective by this study would immediately narrow the field for further in depth consideration.