Can I Bring sanitizing Wipes on Board

[Herfnerd]

Unless the Clorox wipe says "with bleach" THEY DO NOT HAVE BLEACH IN THEM. Check the label and just wash your hands.

 

But benzyl ammonium chloride DOES kill the norovirus and is in Clorox wipes as well as Wet Ones Antibacterial

[Froufie]

Always travel with Lysol or clorox wipes for all hotel rooms/cabins, etc - even airplanes! I have read studies of the stuff that 'lives' on remotes, phones etc and it's not pretty! Just takes a few seconds.....

[campdaan]

I bring them not only on our cruises but I use them in ALL hotels we stay in-you just never know, I'd rather be safe than sorry!

 

 

We wipe down the surfaces on the plane too...

[awesomundo]

But does the overuse of those kind of things lead to the build up of resistant bacteria? Kind of like the overuse of antibiotics? That's what they taught us in nursing school way back when........

 

YES!!! In the long run overusing all the anti-bacterial and anti-microbial products will produce resistant bacteria. So when you're infected, it is even harder to get rid of. I am all for using these wipes, but over use will create a problem. Washing your hands will ALWAYS be the best.

[Disneycruisers]

While we're on the subject (sorry, I don't know the answer, it's why I'm asking,) I use hand sanitizer, wet ones, and wash my hands whenever either one of the three is available. However, they dry out my hands quickly, so I follow up with hand cream. (I have a thing about dry hands too...ever since I was 30.) Does hand cream kill some of the effectiveness of the hand-washing (and others?):confused:

[vacruizer]

While we're on the subject (sorry, I don't know the answer, it's why I'm asking,) I use hand sanitizer, wet ones, and wash my hands whenever either one of the three is available. However, they dry out my hands quickly, so I follow up with hand cream. (I have a thing about dry hands too...ever since I was 30.) Does hand cream kill some of the effectiveness of the hand-washing (and others?):confused:

 

From what I understand, it makes germs more likely to "stick" to your hands. I read a report a while back about women tending to pick up more viruses than men if they were hand lotion users.

 

The alcohol based sanitizers kill me. I couldn't sail one of the lines that forces you to use them. Occasional use is ok for me but more than once or twice a day and it almost starts to eat the skin off my hands. :eek: I'll always go for soap and water over the alcohol sanitizers.

[txstarla]

But benzyl ammonium chloride DOES kill the norovirus and is in Clorox wipes as well as Wet Ones Antibacterial

 

While the CDC says the wipes help, they also say bleach is the most effective option. Also if you are not washing you hands properly, you are still at risk even if you scrub the entire cabin. Public areas are the places of highest risk. I have never scrubbed my cabin, but I was my hands properly and often, try not to touch my face after touching things in public areas and I never use hand sanitizers (the ones offered on the ships and most public areas strip and damage my hands causing my skin to peel).

[kayhold]

While the CDC says the wipes help, they also say bleach is the most effective option. Also if you are not washing you hands properly, you are still at risk even if you scrub the entire cabin. Public areas are the places of highest risk. I have never scrubbed my cabin, but I was my hands properly and often, try not to touch my face after touching things in public areas and I never use hand sanitizers (the ones offered on the ships and most public areas strip and damage my hands causing my skin to peel).

 

I have Behcets syndrome, and I take a lot of immune suppressants. Therefore, I pick up infections really easily, so in addition to washing my hands like a lunatic, I would rather bring my Clorox wipes to be safe.

[GrammyKati]

My DH and I always take packets of Wet Ones wipes to wipe along handrails, elevator buttons and slot machine buttons. We also wash, wash, wash. Wet Ones state that they kill Noro virus. We have never caught Noro and don't wan to do so. Hope this helps.:)

[Froufie]

We wipe down the surfaces on the plane too...

 

Definitely not a bad idea!!!:eek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40667612/ns/travel-business_travel/t/places-germs-breed-plane/

[amyj23]

Handwashing is great. But if you wash your hands, then pick up the remote control with fecal matter on it, it won't help you!!! I'm with the others. I'm a neurotic handwasher AND I do a wipe-down of my room right when we arrive...

[cathyz]

I bring Clorox wipes on every cruise. I wipe everything down in the room. EVERYTHING!!!

I've been doing that for years, on ships and in hotels.

[reginaphalange]

But does the overuse of those kind of things lead to the build up of resistant bacteria? Kind of like the overuse of antibiotics? That's what they taught us in nursing school way back when........

 

No, the bacteria must remain in contact with the disinfectant/antibacterial agent for several minutes for that to be true. Germs die pretty quickly once they come in contact with these agents.

[CanadaJulie]

But benzyl ammonium chloride DOES kill the norovirus and is in Clorox wipes as well as Wet Ones Antibacterial

 

yes BUT, at the concentrations in the commercially available products, it takes over 10 minutes of contact time to inactivate noro. So you'd have to wet the entire surface with enough product to keep it wet for 10 mins before it has any effect.

 

Not gonna happen in a wipe...

[Herfnerd]

yes BUT, at the concentrations in the commercially available products, it takes over 10 minutes of contact time to inactivate noro. So you'd have to wet the entire surface with enough product to keep it wet for 10 mins before it has any effect.

 

Not gonna happen in a wipe...

 

But its still better than nothing - I do liberally wipe so that the surface does stay wet....

[Herfnerd]

While the CDC says the wipes help, they also say bleach is the most effective option. Also if you are not washing you hands properly, you are still at risk even if you scrub the entire cabin. Public areas are the places of highest risk. I have never scrubbed my cabin, but I was my hands properly and often, try not to touch my face after touching things in public areas and I never use hand sanitizers (the ones offered on the ships and most public areas strip and damage my hands causing my skin to peel).

 

Yes, bleach is the most effective but not many people are going to wipe down their room with bleach - the fumes alone would make this method less than ideal

 

I did also post earlier that the CDC stated that thorough hand washing is the best preventitive measure.

 

However, we are not talking about a thorough disinfection of the stateroom - just what can be done to help minimize the risk. Doing something is better than nothing, even if it isn't the most effective.

 

The alternative is to take your chances......

[kayhold]

yes BUT, at the concentrations in the commercially available products, it takes over 10 minutes of contact time to inactivate noro. So you'd have to wet the entire surface with enough product to keep it wet for 10 mins before it has any effect.

 

Not gonna happen in a wipe...

 

Not to be rude, but where did you get this nugget of misinformation?

 

The ingredients benzalkonium chloride and benzethonium chloride are effective against Norovirus in concentrations of at least .013%

 

GermX contains EXACTLY .013%.

Clorox wipes have Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride 0.145%

 

You were grossly misinformed.

 

For the record:

 

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes (Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride 0.145% and Dimethyl Ethylbenzyl Ammonium chloride 0.145%)

Lysol Sanitizing Wipes (Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride 0.28%)

Lever 2000 Anti-bacterial Moisturizing Wipes (Benzethonium Chloride 0.15%)

Equate Antibacterial Wipes (Benzalkonium Chloride 0.115%)

 

All of these wipes are WAY over the recommended concentration.

 

The only thing to be careful of is that not all brands of Lysol wipes contain that ingredient.

[Herfnerd]

BTW - if you want to use bleach, Clorox Professional Germicidal Wipes might be the thing to use. It does have a flowery, bleach smell though....

[kayhold]

BTW - if you want to use bleach, Clorox Professional Germicidal Wipes might be the thing to use. It does have a flowery, bleach smell though....

 

While I agree about those wipes not smelling bad, its really overkill. Norovirus is killed by very, very low concentrations of chloride.

Of course, I love bleach so I wouldn't mind using them anyway :D

[DaDivaMom]

10 minutes to kill it....I don't think so.

 

Also as immune suppressed passenger I will carry my wipes and my Gold Bond lotion hand sanitizer.

[Rachel83706]

I was wondering if anyone knows if I can bring Clorox sanitizing wipes on board the ship, I am afraid of getting sick after reading these blogs

 

No offense, but what a weird question :D Why wouldn't you be allowed to bring those?? :confused:

[CanadaJulie]

Not to be rude, but where did you get this nugget of misinformation?

 

LOL, I didn't realize the CDC was a source for MISinformation. Did you want to call them or should I ?

 

(it's towards the bottom of the page, FYI both of your ingredients are quaternary ammonium compounds referenced in the text. Also, studies are done on FCV "feline calici" a close relation to Noro because noro cannot be grown in tissue culture - hence the reference to FCV)

 

http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/Disinfection_Sterilization/3_2contaminatedDevices

 

Inactivation studies with FCV have shown the effectiveness of chlorine, glutaraldehyde, and iodine-based products whereas the quaternary ammonium compound, detergent, and ethanol failed to inactivate the virus completely. An evaluation of the effectiveness of several disinfectants against the feline calicivirus found that bleach diluted to 1000 ppm of available chlorine reduced infectivity of FCV by 4.5 logs in 1 minute. Other effective (log10 reduction factor of >4 in virus) disinfectants included accelerated hydrogen peroxide, 5,000 ppm (3 min); chlorine dioxide, 1,000 ppm chlorine (1 min); a mixture of four quaternary ammonium compounds, 2,470 ppm (10 min); 79% ethanol with 0.1% quaternary ammonium compound (3 min); and 75% ethanol (10 min) 298. A quaternary ammonium compound exhibited activity against feline calicivirus supensions dried on hard surface carriers in 10 minutes 299. Seventy percent ethanol and 70% 1-propanol reduced FCV by a 3–4-log10 reduction in 30 seconds 300.

 

Now I'm not saying it does NOTHING until the 10 minute mark. Maybe at 1 minute, it's 60% effective and it just takes the full 10 mins for it to be 100% effective. What I am saying is there is little info that says otherwise.

 

I will also use wipes or hand sanitizer because sometimes you just can't run back to your cabin and wash your hands every time you want to eat (no way I'm using public restrooms !). You walk through the buffet, pick up some fruit with the serving utensils - I won't wash my hands just becasue I've touched a serving spoon - but the person who used it before me might have Noro... so I'll use the wipes/gel - it's beter than nothing. Sounds like you beleive this stuff is magical and works in an instant which would be great.

 

The ingredients benzalkonium chloride and benzethonium chloride are effective against Norovirus in concentrations of at least .013%

 

says who ? and how long must the product be in contact with the virus to inactivate it ? Are you getting your info from studies, the CDC/EPA or the websites selling the product ? Beware of false prophets...;)

 

There's a big long list of product approved by the EPA. But there is a caveat: you must abide by the manufacturers label regarding dilution and exposure time. Look some up - they all say 10 mins.

 

here is one of many - the Microgen D125 has the same ingredients as Clorox wipes but at a 2.25% concentration. Kill time: 10 mins

 

You were grossly misinformed.

 

if you say so...:rolleyes:

 

Not to be rude, but I'd love to know where you got your misinformation? :p

[CanadaJulie]

Not to be rude, but where did you get this nugget of misinformation?

 

for kicks, here's another source

 

http://www.unc.edu/depts/spice/dis/Noro.pdf

 

On the slide titled "Inactivation of Feline Calici"

Quat, log reduction 4, 10 mins

 

on the next slide, it gives the log reduction at 1 min - it's 0... meaning it did nothing to inactivate the virus at 1 minute. A few slides later, they have a mix of 65% ethanol and quat which seems to work better at the 1 min mark with a log reduction of 2. In the CDC article above, they seem to qualify "higher than 4" as effective. But since you only mentionned the 2 quats as the magical ingredient, the study does not support your claim.

[cathyoo]

If you want to stay healthy the best thing to do is to make sure that you are exposed to germs all the time so that you can develop a good immune system, and then wash your hands.

 

Totally agree.

[vacruizer]

If you read the fine print on the lysol and clorox wipes, they also say to let sit wet for 10 minutes in order to disinfect. :)