Sterilization techniques

Baumer Equipment Medico Hospitalar S/A Sao Paulo, Brazil 

As of 1996, purchased by Steris Corp. (Ohio). Radiation sterilizer. 

It is necessary to estabUsh a criterion for microbial death when considering a sterilization process. With respect to the individual cell, the irreversible cessation of all vital functions such as growth, reproduction, and in the case of vimses, inabiUty to attach and infect, is a most suitable criterion. On a practical level, it is necessary to estabUsh test criteria that permit a conclusion without having to observe individual microbial cells. The failure to reproduce in a suitable medium after incubation at optimum conditions for some acceptable time period is traditionally accepted as satisfactory proof of microbial death and, consequentiy, stetihty. The appHcation of such a testing method is, for practical purposes, however, not considered possible. The cultured article caimot be retrieved for subsequent use and the size of many items totally precludes practical culturing techniques. In order to design acceptable test procedures, the kinetics and thermodynamics of the sterilization process must be understood. 

An overwhelming body of evidence, starting with the earliest investigations (2), supports the contention that the rate of destmction of microorganisms is logarithmic, ie, first order with respect to the concentration of microorganisms. The process can be described by the following expression  

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (4th Edition) 

market in hospital sterilizing equipment is ca 70 x 10 . Manufacturers of various types of equipment are given in Table 1. 

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SAN copolymers in [ACRYLONITRILE POLYTffiRS - SURVEY AND SAN (STYRENE-ACRYLONITRILECO-POLYTffiRS)] (Vol 1) -for sterilized materials [STERILIZATION TECHNIQUES] (Vol 22)... 

Several methods have received considerable research attention as alternatives to salt curing. These include use of sodium bisulfite as a disinfectant to allow preservation with or without decreased salt in a brine cure use of disinfectants such as quatenary amines for temporary preservation in direct shipping to the taimery from the packing plant (see Disinfectants and antiseptics) preservation of hides by radiation sterilization (see Sterilization techniques) and substitution of materials such as potassium chloride for sodium chloride. These methods have found only limited commercial success. 

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