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John Lovaas wrote:http://whitenosesyndrome.org/resource/national-wns-decontamination-protocol-v-03152012
It includes the very convenient hot water treatment:
Submersion in hot water - Effective at sustained temperatures ≥50ºC (122ºF) for 15 minutes
I know there was a mention in a past thread of a MO DNR employee discounting the validity of the hot water method, and instructing his co-workers in a memo to use washing machine sanitizing cycles; USFWS addresses that in the new document:
Although commercially available washing machines with sanitation cycles often sustain desirable water temperatures to properly disinfect gear, the use of these machines for disinfection should not occur until the efficacy for killing the conidia of G.d. can be demonstrated.
PYoungbaer wrote:How about plain English: If it's submerged in water at greater than 50 C (122 F) for more than 15 minutes, you're good.
Chads93GT wrote:So a washing machine wont work, but a 5 gallon bucket full of say.......150* water out of my hot water heater will?
PYoungbaer wrote:And please remember that this new hot water treatment is the "disinfectant" portion of the two-stage "clean" and "disinfect" that makes up the decon protocol. In other words, you are still supposed to do the pressure wash or scrub and surfactant (e.g. Woolite) cleaning stage in order to remove all dirt, mud, and organic material. Once that stage is completed, then the hot water stage can be used to disinfect, same as the Lysol IC or bleach stage. But it's still a two-stage process, plus rinse and dry.
I only repeat this because it seemed that a casual reader (do we have any of those on Cave Chat?) might think that just a hot washing machine would do the trick in one fell swoop. Nope.
wyandottecaver wrote:LOL. So, the USFWS says that hot water is good. BUT until they have TESTED your specific method of applying hot water then it doesn't count?
NZcaver wrote:However... if it's that simple, why hold onto the recommendation for compartmentalizing gear between regions? Given all that we know to date, is this outdated precaution still really necessary?
Cheryl Jones wrote:So what about using the hot water treatment for ropes and webbing? The only option in the new USFWS protocols is to use chemicals, as before.
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