Disinfectant Efficacy Testing - (Jul/19/2016 )

Calling all microbiologists;

Can you please tell me how are organisms decided for disinfectant efficacy testing? what is the criteria?

Also, can you share any data with me that shows which organisms are difficult to kill and which easier?

Many thanks,

Not a microbiologist but my ideas are:

- frequency (exotic organisms might be difficult to get/culture)

- ability to form spores or similar (reason for heat stability and longevity)

- pathogenicity (less is better)

- ease of detection (a long time of cultivation until you see a colony or not is not good)

A good example is this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_stearothermophilus

To use the disinfectant claim in many countries, there are specific bacterial isolates identified against which one must show efficacy n- e.g. https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-analytical-methods/antimicrobial-testing-methods-procedures-developed-epas-microbiology