Disinfection of woollen blankets in steam at subatmospheric pressure.
Blankets may be disinfected in steam at subatmospheric pressures by temperatures below boiling point inside a suitably adapted autoclave chamber. The chamber and its contents are thoroughly evacuated of air so as to allow rapid heat penetration, and steam is admitted to a pressure of 10 in. Hg below atmospheric pressure, which corresponds to a temperature of 89 degrees C. Woollen blankets treated 50 times by this process were undamaged. Vegetative organisms were destroyed but not spores. The method is suitable for large-scale disinfection of blankets and for disinfecting various other articles which would be damaged at higher temperatures.
D004203:Disinfection; D017053:Infection Control; D007239:Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011312:Pressure; D013227:Steam; D013242:Sterilization; D013696:Temperature
D013227:Steam
DISINFECTION; INFECTION/prevention and control