It's always been my understanding that bleach coorodes the metal becuase it doesn't evaporate like it does at room temp. When we have a TB case and they mistakenly use the cryostat that doesn't self decontaminate, we put a small container of formalin in it and don't use it untill the formalin freezes. Then we clean out all the shavings and start anew.... I don't know where that came from though...
Cheryl Ann Powell B.S., HTL(ASCP)
Botsford General Hospital
Farmington Hills, MI USA
>From: Bill
>To: "Jones, Laura" , "Histonet (E-mail)"
>Subject: Re: Disinfecting The Cryostat?
>Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 08:48:30 -0500
>
>At 2:30 PM -0400 4/21/03, Jones, Laura wrote:
> Can you please tell us, does cleaning with 100% ethanol really
>qualify as "disinfecting"? If you have different procedures or
>suggestions, we'd appreciate those as well.
>
>As I recall, 70% ethanol is more effective as a disinfectant than
>100% for physicochemical reasons I don't recall.
>
>ETOH is not very effective for killing TB or prion disease
>organisms. Bleach will.
>
>The British have a lot more experience with prion disease (Mad Cow,
>Scrapi, CJD etc). What do you Brits use for disinfecting.
>
>What is the problem with bleach and the microtome parts?
>
>Bill
>--
>_____________________________
>Bill Blank
>http://kernunnos.com (Celtic studies and numismatics)
>
>