Doug,
Thanks for furthering the discussion on cleaning cutting instruments. The original poster had no information on the efficacy of ethanol as a sterilant, so I provided what I knew. Your post, however, brings up a few questions.
Please clarify *which* alcohol will precipitate/crystallize TMV virus. My post mentions 2: ethanol and isopropanol.... you don't say which alcohol Martinus Beijerinck used in his experiments.
TIA,
K Barrett N Calif, USA
If Martinus Beijerinck were still alive, I'm sure he'd be quite surprised at extrapolating this to plannt viruses. Three fuundamental properties were used to characterize tobacco mosaic virus from previously known pathogens and organisms: systemic infection; a requirement for living tissue in which to replicate; its ability to tolerate desiccation, storage, filtration, and alcohol precipitation and crystalliztion. Beijerinck's work with TMV led to Wendell Stanley receiving the Nobel Chemistry Prize in 1946. As odontoglossum ringspot virus is a tobamovirus, that alcohols will destroy this virus is not a saf eassumption. This is not unexpected as the archetypal tobamovirus TMV contains no lipid. Potexviruses such as cymbidium mosaic virus also have no lipid nor do potyviruses. Bunyaviridae infect orchids only occasionally but are 20% lipid.
The following was found in a google search. Hope it helps. Use your common sense to transfer this information to your own purposes. As always, remove any bio burden before using a surface disinfectant. Some people use Lysol disinfecting spray (79% ethanol). An MSDS for Lysol's product can be found online in a google search, too.
K Barrett N Calif, USA
"Ethanol in concentrations of 70% and higher is considered an intermediate-level disinfectant and is considered broadly virucidal and tuberculocidal. The virucidal activity of isopropanol is limited primarily to lipid-containing viruses.
Ethanol is tuberculocidal. Adding ethanol to a disinfectant formula can shorten the required contact time for inactivation of benchmark organism Mycobacterium tuberculosis but may have no effect on contact time for other organisms.
Because alcohols are poor cleaners and evaporate rapidly, they may not be
the best choice for use on environmental surfaces(1). Adding soap to alcohol
may improve its usefulness as a cleaner but will not increase its germicidal
efficacy.
References: 1) Ali Y, Dolan MJ, Fendler EJ, Larson EL. In Block SS., ed. Disinfection, Sterilization, and Preservation, 5th edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2001 "
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