Disinfection

Disinfection a must:

Hygiene is the set of principles and practices intended to preserve and improve health.
Disinfection and the use of disinfectant products is one of the keys to guaranteeing perfect hygiene.
The application of hygiene rules has an essential place in the prevention of communicable diseases in communities to fight against the sources of contamination and reduce the routes of transmission.
Numerous studies have shown the impact of good hygiene habits on life expectancy.
Maintenance measures for objects, surfaces and premises are therefore very important.
These measures are effective in reducing the transmission of infections, provided that the products, their use and the frequency of maintenance are adequate. Bacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses can be observed on all surfaces, on the skin, in the air.

Viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeasts ... small organisms but big impacts!

• They are not all transmitted in the same way, but all can be responsible for serious health crises. Viruses such as H1N1, H5N1, influenza, gastro epidemics, Strass, Seas and more recently Covid19 have demonstrated their capacity to harm our societies.
• Their development is extremely rapid: a single bacterial cell generates a colony of 8 million bacteria in less than 24 hours.
• Prevention of the risk of contamination can only be achieved through good hygiene practices and effective disinfection.

Disinfection standards

The disinfection standards are presented according to a classification:
Basic standards - Phase 1
Application standards - Phase 2 separated into 2 steps 1 and 2
Phase 1 standards: NF EN14347 / NF T 72-230 / NF T 72-231
Phase 2, step 1 standards: NF EN1276 / NF EN1650 / NF EN13624 / NF EN13727 / NF EN14348 / NF EN14348
Phase 2, step 2 standards: NF EN1500 / NF EN12791 / NF EN13697 / NF EN14561 / NF EN14562 / NF EN14563 / NF EN16615 / NF EN16615 / NF EN17111 / NF EN16777

The EN14476 standard

Since the appearance of the Covid19 virus, which is an enveloped virus, the standard put forward for the fight against Covid19 is EN14476.
A standard lives on and evolves over time.
Previous versions of EN 14476 (2007, 2013 and 2015) did not distinguish between non-enveloped (naked) and enveloped viruses for treatment of surfaces and hands.
Since non-enveloped viruses are more resistant, the reasoning was that if non-enveloped viruses are destroyed then enveloped viruses are also destroyed.

History of modifications to standard EN 14476:
EN 14476 + A1 (2007): Poliovirus and Adenovirus test; Parvovirus for chemothermal disinfection.
EN 14476 (2013): addition of Norovirus as a reference strain, addition of limited-spectrum virucidal activity on Adenovirus and Norovirus only for the treatment of hands, possibility of testing a product ready to use at 97% instead of 80% previously.
EN 14476 + A1 (2015): addition of activity on enveloped virus with test on Vaccinia virus only for hand disinfection.
EN 14476 + A2 (2019): Virucidal activity on enveloped viruses (hands and surfaces) = test on Vaccinia virus
Limited-spectrum virucidal activity (on enveloped viruses + non-enveloped viruses Adenovirus, Rotavirus and Norovirus) = test on Adenovirus and Norovirus
Virucidal activity (enveloped and non-enveloped viruses) = test on Poliovirus, Adenovirus and Norovirus
It is mentioned in the standards protocols that tests carried out on previous versions of the standards remain valid and should not be resubmitted.