What’s the difference between cleaning and disinfecting?
Cleaning refers to the removal of dirt and grime from a surface. With cleaning tools such as sponges or cloths, cleaning simply moves germs and bacteria around a surface or from one surface to another. Disinfecting refers to the killing of a high percentage of germs and/or rendering them incapable of reproducing.

Therefore, a surface can look clean and still be covered in dangerous bacteria. However, cleaning is still an important step to properly disinfecting a surface. Prior to disinfecting, a person should remove all visible soils from the area they wish to disinfect. Skipping this could affect the success of disinfection because the organic matter on a surface can interfere with microbial inactivation.​

​There are many disinfectant cleaners on the market today that have the cleaning abilities you need along with being a disinfectant. Essentially you are getting two products in one (great!). However, that does not equate to cleaning and disinfecting being done in one step necessarily. Instructions may vary, but for most disinfectant cleaners the user will need to use a technique the industry refers to as spray-wipe-spray. Meaning if a surface is visibly soiled, you would want to spray the disinfectant cleaner, wipe away the soil and then spray again and follow disinfecting instructions and dwell times listed on the label.

Proper handwashing, particularly before and after certain activities, is one of the best ways to remove germs and avoid getting sick. One study found that 95% of people do not wash their hands correctly after using the restroom, 2 in 3 people forget the soap, and 1 in 10 skip the process entirely.

This isn’t good news for the quickly approaching Flu Season. It is the general consensus among health care professionals that after receiving a flu vaccine, proper hand hygiene is the second most important way to avoid the flu. However, they don’t mean rinsing your hands off for 5 seconds and wiping them dry on your shirt. There are easy techniques to follow that will get those nasty germs off your hands.