Vinegar helps bleach kill anthrax

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Vinegar helps bleach kill anthrax

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Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/8/06

BY NANCY KERCHEVAL

BLOOMBERG WIRE SERVICES

A cup of white vinegar gives diluted household bleach enough

strength to kill almost any disease-causing microbe, including

anthrax spores contaminating surfaces, according to a study by

MicroChem Lab Inc.

Vinegar changes the character of household bleach from alkaline to

acidic and makes it 80 to 200 times more effective at being an

antimicrobial product, said Norman Miner, Microchem president and a

researcher on the study presented today at the American Society for

Microbiology Biodefense Research meeting in Washington.

Miner said household bleaches manufactured and sold in an alkaline

state are relatively ineffective at killing disease-causing

microbes. The vinegar gives bleach enough kick to fight bacteria,

fungi, viruses and spores. The recipe: dilute one cup of household

bleach in one gallon of water and then add one cup of white vinegar.

" Bleach has been used as a disinfectant for decades. People just

assume it will kill everything on a countertop, " Miner said in an

interview. " It's one of the myths. "

Bleach can't be bottled in an acidic state because it's unstable,

Miner said in an interview. After a day, it would start losing the

chlorine that gives it its bleaching power.

Researchers tested the vinegar recipe on dried bacterial spores,

considered the most resistant to disinfectants used on microbes, the

Euless, Texas-based company said.

After researchers swabbed surfaces with the acidic dilution, all the

spores were dead in 20 minutes, Miner said. An alkaline dilution

left only 2.5 percent of the areas free of microbes after the same

amount of time.

" In the event of an emergency involving Bacillus anthracis spores

contaminating such environmental surfaces as counter tops, desk and

table tops, and floors, for example, virtually every household has a

sporicidal sterilant available in the form of diluted, acidified

bleach, " Miner said in a statement.

The vinegar-laced bleach also killed aspergillus negri, more

commonly recognized as the black fungi that infect the tile grout of

shower stalls, Miner said.

" Diluted bleach at an alkaline pH is a relatively poor disinfectant,

but acidified diluted bleach will virtually kill anything in 10 to

20 minutes, " Miner said.