Tough little sucker, that virus.  No wonder it is hell to get rid of it.  The C virus is no paper tiger - all those who fight the fight have to work really hard and stay alert to contain and not spread it, let alone eradicate it.  This is useful information to protect those we love and others we come in contact with.  Thanks Jill.

really good information to know, dispels many of the myths about how we contracted the Virus and important reminder, thank's again this forum is a life saver

Bill emma and raven

Does zapping tooth brush in mirco wave kill the virus? I zap kitchen sponge every day and anyones  tooth brush if I find it out of holder. I wipe out micro after any/all use. I store my brush seprate from sons.

I think it's a good idea to replace your toothbrushes regularly anyway, but especially for us. After I reached UND, I replaced all of mine. There are sanitizing solutions that can be used to disinfect these items post use too. Things like your nail clippers, scissors, etc., can be soaked in the 1:10 bleach solution as previously discussed. Those items can be left in those solutions in between use as well. Like Tim, my household has always had separate grooming items and everyone knew to leave mine alone. I always kept mine in a separate location too. It's the safe and right thing to do.

wow, I would have never thought about the possibility of re-infecting myself. Maybe need to pay a little more attention.

Hi Matt,

This was something that I was concerned about during treatment, to the point of buying a quantity of disposable toothbrushes on ebay.  However, I soon  realized that unless I used a toothbrush no more than one time, I couldn't be 100% certain.  As a consequence, I adopted a more relaxed view, and figured that changing brushes weekly would still be an improvement in re-infection avoidance.      I  cleaned my nail clippers and hair combs/brushes periodically with a disinfectant(don't recall the product).    My wife uses separate  personal care utensils, so no worry there.

Hey all

This bring up the thought about when we should dispose of our tooth brush and other clippers devices.

This might be important during treatment, for example would you re-use your tooth brush after you reach UND with many more weeks of treatment to go?

How often and when should we sterile our clippers and will that work on tooth brushes?

Also is there any other items that we could get re-infected from around our house or work?

Any thoughts

matt

I'll have to check out my bleach label! 

DB,

The articles and the MSDS listed 5.25% as the highest consumer strength available. You can change the strength with your own ratio adjustments. However there comes a point where stronger doesn't necessarily mean more effective when sanitation is concerned. 

Tig56 wrote:

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DB, 

It's one part bleach to ten parts water. From what I've read so far is that bleach is bleach! Some of it comes pure and some comes pre diluted. With those various dilution rates comes different names (marketing). The MSDS for Chlorox Germicidal bleach says it's 5.25% sodium hypochlorite. If it comes in higher percentages, it may be difficult for typical consumers to purchase.

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Thanks for the correct ratio. 

Would 5.25% be high enough?  I wonder what they used?

DB, 

It's one part bleach to ten parts water. From what I've read so far is that bleach is bleach! Some of it comes pure and some comes pre diluted. With those various dilution rates comes different names (marketing). The MSDS for Chlorox Germicidal bleach says it's 5.25% sodium hypochlorite. If it comes in higher percentages, it may be difficult for typical consumers to purchase.

I have asked this question and no one knew the answer.

This is good information to know.  It really makes you think about getting your nails done or sharing nail clippers, ooohh!

Having been in the hospital recently I can see how this can happen.

The article says: "..commercially available antiseptics were highly effective against the HCV-contaminated blood spots. One minute of exposure to bleach (diluted to a ratio of 1:10) was 100% effective.."

Is the commercial bleach different from the consumer bleach sold in most stores? I'd like to know so I can properly clean my grooming items that Tig pointed out.

Is that 1 part water to 10 parts bleach, or the other way around?

Thanks Jill, that information really confirmed what most of us were aware of but I had no idea that the virus was so resistant on hard surfaces for the lengths of time listed! Even the application of sanitizing agents seems to only reduce the infectivity of the virus if they aren't used exactly as directed. That goes to show us all how important proper treatment of our grooming items like nail clippers, razors, toothbrushes, etc. are. Its information like this that really opens the gates of wonder for me. I worked in the medical field for many years in the 70's and 80's, I saw breaks in sterility, either from poor practices or by needle stick injuries. People just weren't as cautious of these risks at the time. I believe these diseases had a profound impact on medical care as we know it. Certainly they changed how the world handles bio hazardous material. I'd like to know what the rates of HBV, HCV and HIV infection are now as a result of hospital acquired contamination during that time frame. I believe it would open a lot of eyes.

`Dried spots of blood contaminated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) can remain infectious for up to six weeks at normal room temperatures, research published in the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases shows.  Commercially available antiseptics reduced the infectivity of the blood spots, but only when used at recommended concentrations.`

`The investigators believe their findings could explain hospital-acquired HCV infections in individuals who have not undergone surgery or received blood products, and also the ongoing HCV epidemic among injecting drug users.`

Full article...

 http://www.aidsmap.com/Hepatitis-C-virus-dried-on-inanimate-surfaces-can-remain-infectious-for-up-to-six-weeks/page/2808006/