Applicability of Escherichia coli As an Indicator for Assessing Quality of Disinfectants and Antiseptic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The application of disinfectant agents is a common way to fight against microorganisms. Although there are different types of disinfectant agents to fight COVID-19, many of them do not have the required quality and efficiency. The present work was aimed to evaluate the quality of the available disinfectant agents using gram-negative E. coli bacteria. Materials and Methods: In the laboratory phase of the research, the gramnegative E. coli bacteria were used to evaluate the quality of disinfectants. According to the proposed laboratory method, microbial kit was prepared and used to evaluate the performance of disinfectants. Results: According to the obtained findings, 1.0 mL of the prepared microbial suspension in the test tube, as microbial kit, was used for the quality assessment of the selected disinfectants. In case of growth of microorganisms in optimum conditions, the quality of disinfectants was undesirable, and if microorganisms were not grown, the quality of disinfectants would be appropriate in terms of its effect on gramnegative bacteria. Conclusion: E. coli can be used as a reliable indicator for assessing the quality of the disinfectant and antiseptic agents used against COVID19.