title: Biological safety cabinets, decontamination or sterilization with paraformaldehyde.
abstract: Bacillus subtilis var. niger spores were used to determine the exposure time for formaldehyde decontamination of biological safety cabinets. Formaldehyde contact times less than 3 hr were insufficient for sterilization. A contact time of 4 hr or more resulted in a reproducible killing of the spore strips placed inside the cabinets. At 6 hr sufficient formaldehyde had diffused through the high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter to sterilize the strips with lower spore counts. A minimum of 5 to 6 logs of killing were observed after 4 to 6 hr of treatment.
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects*; D003666:Decontamination / Q000379:methods*; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D013242:Sterilization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005557:Formaldehyde