A kinetic study of the effect of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using the Bioscreen disinfection method

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid at pH 4 were examined against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using the published 'Bioscreen' technique of biocide analysis. The data were examined using either classical Chick-Watson (CW) log-linear disinfection kinetics or the empirical, non-linear time Hom model. In some cases, modelling the data with the classical CW method gave good linear correlations, in others, however, deviations from this model were observed. In such cases the Hom model proved an adequate descriptor of the data. The Bioscreen technique therefore gives data which can be analysed using the normal mechanistic and empirical models currently available.