After an illness

Infectious disease cleaning and disinfection in San Jose

Some illnesses leave a room that ordinary cleaning should not be trusted with: norovirus in a care home, C. diff in a bedroom, body fluids after a long sickness at home.

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Cleaning comes before disinfecting

Disinfectant does not work through dirt. The visible soil comes off first and is sealed as waste. Only then is a disinfectant put on the cleaned surface.

The product has to match the germ. The Environmental Protection Agency keeps lists of registered products according to what each is proven to kill: one for bloodborne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, one for norovirus, one for C. difficile spores, one for MRSA (EPA's lists). A product that works on one may do nothing against another.

It also has to stay wet for long enough. EPA's guidance is that the surface must remain visibly wet for the whole contact time printed on the label. A quick spray and wipe does not meet that.

What to tell the company

What the illness was, if a doctor or a facility has told you
Which rooms the sick person used, bathrooms included
What got onto soft things: a mattress, carpet, upholstered chairs
Whether anyone still living there is frail, pregnant or has a weak immune system
For a business or a care setting, what your own infection-control rules require

What nobody can promise

No company can truthfully promise that a room is sterile, and you should be wary of one that does. What a company can do is remove contaminated material, clean, apply a registered disinfectant the way its label requires, and tell you which product it used and why. Ask for that in writing.

Whether it is safe for a sick or vulnerable person to move back in is a question for their doctor or the county public health department, not for a cleanup company.

Two things people ask

Is fogging enough?

Not by itself. Fogging or misting puts disinfectant on surfaces, but it removes no soil, and a surface that is still dirty is not disinfected. Ask what cleaning is done before any fogging.

Can a home be cleaned after a death from an infectious disease?

Yes, cleanup companies do that work. Say what the illness was when you phone, so they bring the right product and protective equipment.