Many creationists
today would tell you the chicken came first, because the Book of Genesis
reveals that God created birds on the fifth day (along with sea monsters), ergo we can
presume that these original birds emerged as full-fledged adults. Evolutionary
biologists on the other hand will tell you something completely different.
About 300 million years ago, reptiles developed their own kind of external egg,
with a leathery skin and an internal food supply. Their descendents - the birds
- came onstage 100 million years ago with their own revisions of reptilian
egg-technology.
Quite frankly, if you insist on asking this question, you'll
just have to come up with your own answer as it certainly doesn't matter much
either way.....although I did find a pretty funny joke by Googling
"Chicken or Egg".
Why am talking about chickens and eggs? Well the same thing applies to Infection
Prevention Guidelines and their description of disinfectants and recommended
concentrations. Let's be honest, if
we're lucky, most guidelines only get updated every 5 - 10 years. Aside from our age, weight and eyesight, a
lot can change in 5 years....new pathogens can arrive, new products hit the
market and new science is published.
It's for this reason that we have to keep in mind that
disinfectants are not governed by Infection Prevention Guidelines...guidelines
are just that - guides. Disinfectants
are regulated by the US EPA
or Health
Canada. In all cases the EPA or
Health Canada approved label which includes the product's shelf life
information, efficacy claims, contact times and most importantly CONCENTRATION
and dilution information trumps information found in our Infection Prevention
Guidelines. A disinfectant's label is
the KING of all things related to correct use of disinfectants. For example, if we only used information
found in Infection Control Guidelines published in 2008 we would not be
investigating the use of the safer and more effective Improved Hydrogen
Peroxide products, which use far less hydrogen peroxide than HICPAC's current
recommendation of 3% for hydrogen peroxide products. Nor would we be looking at Peracetic Acid or
Silver-based products as alternative disinfectants to the use of bleach for
cleaning environmental surfaces to combat C.
difficile.
I'm not saying that our guidelines are not important. Without a doubt they are. They serve as the foundation from which we
build our infection prevention programs, but we need to keep in mind that we
live in a world of constant change and constant improvement. Don't get stuck in the past. Don't get stuck in believing the only thing
correct is what you read in black and white in a guideline. Keep in mind that some guidelines were probably
written a number of years ago and since then, times have changed and the
guideline in question may not have been updated. If we are to move forward and improve our
infection prevention programs we need to take comfort that the EPA and Health
Canada regulate and enforce the claims, the contact times, the concentrations
and dilution rates for all the disinfectants that we are looking to use. That doesn't mean you have to believe
everything a sales rep tells you, but you can certainly find the information
you need to be comfortable in your choice by reading the label affixed to the
bottle!
Since I started this blog talking about eggs........What day
of the week do eggs hate most?
FRY-DAY!!!! (Bad I know, but happy Friday!)
Bugging Off!
Nicole
