Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sanitizing
Germs are a part of everyday life. Some of them are helpful, but others are harmful and cause disease. They can be found everywhere - in our air, soil, and water. They are on our skin and in our bodies. Germs are also on the surfaces and objects that we touch.
Sometimes those germs can spread to you and make you sick. For example, there could be germs on a tv remote. You could get infected with the germs if you touch the remote and then rub your eyes or nose or eat with your hands.
To avoid becoming infected by germs from surfaces and objects, it is important to wash your hands often. But you can't wash your hands every time you touch something. So it's also important to regularly clean and disinfect surfaces and objects.
Some people think that disinfecting is same thing as cleaning or sanitizing. But they are actually different:
- Cleaning removes dirt, dust, crumbs, and germs from surfaces or objects. When you clean, you will likely use soap (or detergent) and water to physically clean off the surfaces and objects. This may not necessarily kill the germs. But since you removed some of them, there are fewer germs that could spread infection to you.
- Disinfecting uses chemicals (disinfectants) to kill germs on surfaces and objects. Some common disinfectants are bleach and alcohol solutions. You usually need to leave the disinfectant on the surfaces and objects for a certain period of time to kill the germs. Disinfecting does not necessarily clean dirty surfaces or remove germs.
- Sanitizing could be done by either cleaning, disinfecting, or both. Sanitizing means that you are lowering the number of germs to a safe level. What is considered a safe level depends on public health standards or requirements at a workplace, school, etc. For example, there are sanitizing procedures for restaurants and other facilities that prepare food. What you do to sanitize will vary, depending on your needs. You might be mopping a floor using a mop, a chemical, and water. You might use a dishwasher to sanitize the dishes. Or you could be using an antibacterial wipe on a tv remote.
If you both clean and disinfect a surface or object, you can further lower the risk of spreading infection. There are products that clean and disinfect at the same time.
To prevent the spread of infection, you should regularly clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that are touched often. For example, in your house, this would include countertops, doorknobs, faucet and toilet handles, light switches, remotes, and toys.
It's important to be safe when using cleaning and disinfecting products:
- Store them in the containers they came in. Always follow the instructions and pay attention to the warnings on the label.
- Do not mix cleaners and disinfectants unless the labels say that it is safe to do so. Combining certain products (such as chlorine bleach and ammonia cleaners) can cause serious injury or even death.
- Check the label to see whether you need to use gloves to protect your hands and/or eye protection when using the products
- If you swallow, inhale, or get them on your skin, follow the directions on the label or get medical help
- Store them out of the reach of children
It sits within Infections and Safety Issues.
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Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Cleaners, Sanitizers, and DisinfectantsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- What's the Difference between Products that Disinfect, Sanitize, and Clean Surfaces?Environmental Protection Agency
- When and How to Clean and Disinfect Your HomeCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Related Issues
- How to Sanitize Your Phone and Other DevicesFederal Communications Commission
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Disinfection. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sanitizing, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.