Most people clearly understand that cleaning a surface simply removes visible debris, dirt and dust, however the words sanitizing and disinfecting are often used interchangeably, but there are important differences between them.
The main difference is that whilst sanitizing reduces the amount of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes on a surface (up to 99.9 % within 30 seconds), disinfectants kill almost all of them (99.999%).
This is because disinfectants include chemicals like hydrogen peroxide that decontaminate a surface or object by producing destructive free radicals that attack cell components.
Sanitizers on the other hand, like chlorine and QUAT (Quaternary ammonium compounds) based sanitizers, simply reduce the number of germs on a surface. This may not kill them, but it can still help prevent the spread of illness. For each disease, there’s a certain number of germs — called the dose of exposure— you need to contract in order to become sick. Therefore sanitizers help reduce the risk of infection by lowering the total number of germs on a surface or object.
Sanitizers and disinfectants also differ in how long they take to work, known as dwell time. Sanitizers can work almost immediately whereas the chemicals in disinfectants take up to 10 minutes to kill germs. This is why it’s important to follow the directions on the product label for effective use.
Due to time constraints in the aged care sector, sanitizing agents are efficient for daily cleaning (ostensibly because of the short ‘dwell’ time) whilst disinfectants are recommended for Spring cleaning, terminal cleaning and outbreak cleaning.
