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nma_ycp

Eco-Friendly Staphylococcal Disinfection

nma_ycp
13 years ago

To whom it may interest,

I am writing to inform you of the results of an experiment I performed to discover if alternative, eco-friendly cleaning products were able to eliminate bacterial contamination as well as other chemical disinfectants. I tested two common disinfectants (Clorox Clean-Up and Formula 409) and two "green" products (Green Works Natural All-Purpose Cleaner and Seventh Generation Disinfecting Multi-Surface Cleaner) against a known sample of Staphylococcus aureus. I found that all four cleaners were able to kill > 99% of the bacteria, but the "traditional" disinfectants were brought about this result much more quickly. A copy of my full written report can be found at http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-psped/messages?msg=7691 in case anyone is interested in the more details of the methodology and/or the results.

What this means to you as parents is this: If you would like to use an eco-friendly cleaner when cleaning your child's toys, it may be necessary to leave the solution in contact with the object for an extended period of time. Please note that the results of my experiment only apply to the organism Staphylococcus aureus and to the four cleaners that I tested. I chose S. aureus as the subject of my study due to its prevalence; because it is common on all of our skin, it is transferred to many of the things we touch. Many times contact with S. aureus does not cause disease, but when it gets into places where it shouldn't be it can lead to mild conditions such as gastroenteritis and skin diseases or more serious diseases such as bacteremia or toxic shock syndrome.

About me: I am an undergraduate student at York College of Pennsylvania who is planning on declaring as a nursing major. The attached paper was written as the project for my Academic Writing class. I am also currently enrolled in a Microbiology class and all of the experimentation was performed in the college's microbiology lab. This message board post is part of my "alternative genre project" for the writing class; I was to take the information from my research and present it in some way to a different audience. Any questions or feedback that you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,

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