Disinfectants are preparations used to kill pathogenic microorganisms on transmission vectors, rendering them harmless. Unlike antibiotics, their main role in disease prevention is to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms outside the human body, cutting off the transmission routes of infectious diseases and achieving the goal of controlling them. Disinfectants are also commonly referred to as "chemical disinfectants."
High-efficiency disinfectants can kill all vegetative bacteria (including mycobacteria), viruses, fungi and their spores, and also have some killing effect on bacterial spores, achieving high-level disinfection requirements. These include chlorine-based disinfectants, ozone, methylhydantoin compounds, and double-chain quaternary ammonium salts. Medium-efficiency disinfectants can only kill mycobacteria, fungi, viruses, and vegetative bacteria, achieving disinfection requirements. These include ozone-based disinfectants, iodine-based disinfectants, alcohol-based disinfectants, and phenolic disinfectants. Low-efficiency disinfectants can only kill vegetative bacteria and lipophilic viruses, meeting the requirements for disinfectants. These include quaternary ammonium salt disinfectants such as benzalkonium bromide, biguanide disinfectants such as chlorhexidine (Hibitane), metal ion disinfectants such as mercury, silver, and copper, and traditional Chinese medicine disinfectants.
