ABSTRACT

Antiseptics  and Disinfectants are chemicals used extensively in hospitals, other health care centres and in homes to control the growth of microorganisms on  living tissues and inanimate objects respectively. This study compared the efficacy of two disinfectants (HYPO and Ivy) and two antiseptics (Iodine and Carex sanitizer) against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa .The disk diffusion method and Rideal Walker Phenol   coefficient  test were used. For the antiseptics , Staphylococcus aureus was susceptible to Iodine(18) and was not susceptible to Carex sanitizer.  For the test disinfectants, Staphylococcus aureus   was less susceptible to Ivy (24) and more susceptible Hypo . For the antiseptics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, it was more susceptible to Iodine   and less susceptible to Carex sanitizer. The disinfectants against Pseudomonas   aeruginosa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa  was more susceptible to Hypo and was resistant to Ivy. The phenol coefficient of the test antiseptics against Staphylococcus aureus  ranged from 5-6 . Carex sanitizer had the highest with 6. While Iodine had the least with 5.for the test disinfectants the phenol coefficient ranged from 6-7. Ivy had the least  with 6 while Hypo had the highest with 7.For Pseudomonas aeruginosa , the phenol coefficient of the test antiseptics ranged from 5.3 to 6.3.Iodine  had the least with 5.3 while Carex sanitizer had the highest with 6.3.For the test disinfectants, the phenol coefficient was 7.4 for both Hypo and Ivy. Thus for the phenol coefficient test, all the disinfectants and antiseptics showed strong bactericidal effect against the organisms. While for the disk diffusion, the   result showed that Hypo had the strongest bactericidal effect   while Carex sanitizer had the least bactericidal effect .The study concluded that Hypo should be used in our daily disinfection.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page i

Certification ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgements iv

Table of Contents v

List of Tables vi

List of Figures vii

List of Plates viii

Abstract ix

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Aims and Objectives              4

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Literature Review 5

2.1 History of Disinfectants 6

2.2 Disinfectants and antiseptics 6

2.3 Types of Disinfectants 7

2.4       Sources of contamination                                                                               13

2.5 Properties of A Disinfectant            13

2.6 General Features of Disinfectant 13

2,7       Factors influencing the efficacy of disinfectants and antiseptics                    14

2.8       Neutralizers                                                                                                      15

2.9 General Features of the Test Organisms 15

2.10 Mechanism of Actions of Disinfectants against Bacteria              16

2.11 Resistant Action of Bacteria            16

2.12Pseudomonas sensitivity to antimicromial agents                                        17

2.13Staphylococcus sensitivity to antimicromial agents                                      17

2.14 Advantages and Disadvantages of Disinfectants 17

2.15 General Guidelines in the Use of Disinfectants 18

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Material and Method            20

3.1 Collection of samples              20

3.2 Collection of test Organisms 20

3.3 Rideal Walker phenol coefficient test 20

3.4 Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing 20

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS 22

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Discussion 39

5.1 Conclusion                                                                         42

5.2 Recommendations 41

References