Greetings all.
I would question the efficacy of using 70% ETOH alone as a
sterilization agent specifically in flow as well as generally in the
laboratory. Although ETOH has some bactericidal activity against common
water-borne contaminants such as the pseudomonads and the like I would
imagine that most airborne contaminants that float into the sheath tank
would be of the Gram-positive persuasion and as such quite resistant to the
effect of ETOH.
As for swabbing down external surfaces with 70% ETOH, I would regard this
as an excellent strategy for mobilizing bacterial aerosol.
On the few occasions when I have had to carry out sterile sorting, my
strategy is as follows:
Clean sort nozzle/flow cell /sheath tank with a proprietary detergent and
rinse in sterile H2O.
Wash the sort collection area down with a proprietary detergent
Bypass the in-line sheath filter, Then flush system with following:
1)H2O
2)Surface active agent e.g. 0.1% DECON 90
3)Sterile H20
4)Sterile sheath fluid
5)Fit new sterile in-line sheath filter.
Regards .
Arnold.
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Arnold Pizzey
Department of Haematology
98 Chenies Mews
London WC1E 6HX
E-mail a.pizzey@ucl.ac.uk.
Voice (0)171 209 6234;
fax (0)171 209 6222.
_____________________________________________________
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