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Company's house call clears the air

A fine fog of disinfectant is used to rid buildings of odor and allergens.

By Paul Swider, Times Staff Writer
Published March 5, 2008

Technician David Gautier sprays Sporicidin into the air at a doctor's office in Pinellas Park. Cleaners use Sporicidin to get rid of mold, and doctors use it to clean medical equipment.
	[Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times] Technician David Gautier sprays sporicidin the air vent at an ob-gyn's office in Pinellas Park. The new company uses an old product to disinfect homes, businesses and more. The active ingredients in Chloraseptic mouthwash has an interesting regulatory history, but apparently works as advertised, killing flu, cold, bacteria, even MRSA and other nasty stuff.

REDINGTON BEACH - When Kim Ficken was getting her Seminole home ready for sale, she ran across a new service to disinfect it and thought for a few hundred dollars, it was worth a try.

Since treatment with a fog of Sporicidin, she now finds her home easier to live in.

"At first all I noticed was a hospital smell," Ficken said, after her home's treatment by Air and Surface Disinfection, a 2-month-old company run by a New Orleans transplant. "Then I noticed this one bedroom where no one could sleep without coughing or being congested was suddenly okay."

A rug that had smelled of spilled milk and wet dog was now odor-free. Others have had similar experiences with a product that uses the same chemical as in Chloraseptic mouthwash.

"We use a different product, but I've tested Sporicidin and found it very effective," said Barbara Frese of A Quality Indoor Environment, a home inspection business.

Effective against what is almost your pick. Cleaners use Sporicidin to get rid of mold, but doctors use it to clean medical equipment. It has been tested and shown to be effective against salmonella, athlete's foot, herpes, polio, avian flu, HIV, even MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant infection that killed a Pinellas woman last week.

"My goal is to create a healthier indoor environment," said Kevin Renner, who had treated Ficken's home with a fine fog of Sporicidin.

'It not only cleans but kills'

Renner had planned to start this business when he lived in New Orleans but Hurricane Katrina squashed those plans and he moved here. Interestingly, the same storm was something of a rebirth for Sporicidin, which has been around for 30 years but was taken off the market in the early '90s.

Creator Dr. Bob Schattner had a thriving business selling Chloraseptic when he came up with Sporicidin, which adds some other ingredients to the mouthwash mix. Then inexplicably, federal marshals closed him down in 1991 on the basis Sporicidin didn't live up to its claims. After a protracted legal fight, Schattner said he acquired federal approvals and got permission to start his Maryland business again, but he'd lost so much market share that it was a struggle. When Katrina struck, he donated some product and it is again gaining popularity.

"Everyone has their favorites but I like Sporicidin because it not only cleans but kills," said Dennis Whelan, a microbiologist who works as a home inspector, often on mold cases. "It's hypoallergenic and that's good, because I don't want to put poison in a home. But the medical uses are the acid test, because they have higher standards."

There are other chemicals to use in treating mold and other contaminants, but they can be expensive, said Hugh Lloyd, corporate chemist for Servpro, the disaster recovery firm. With insurance companies cracking down on mold claims, something like Sporicidin can be a handy antidote.

A lingering effect

Renner said he prices his fogging treatment at 10 cents per square foot, which means Ficken's job cost $300. Treatment with other chemicals can cost much more and can require complicated protocols that add to the price. Even a mold inspection before any treatment can cost as much as a Sporicidin fogging.

But Sporicidin also has residual effects. It continues to work for months after fogging, as long as it hasn't been wiped off, Schattner said. For playgrounds or day care centers or even offices, Renner said, it can cheaply provide long-lasting sanitization.

"Nobody likes to be sick," he said. "If you're sick, you can't make it to work and you can't make any money."

If your business is keeping people from getting sick, your workplace could be even more important. Dr. Meena Jain met Renner and heard his pitch, but did her own homework before having him treat her 66th Street medical office.

"There's been a lot of upper respiratory infections going around," Jain said. "Nobody wants to come here and get sick, so I want to do anything I can to keep the levels down."

Lloyd said Servpro franchisers use Sporicidin among a number of other products, but don't do the fogging Renner does. Frese said she also uses a product called BioShield75 that also lingers on surfaces, but it costs more.

Ficken said she's happy with her results and would like to see more use of products like Sporicidin. She worries when she takes her children to play areas in fast-food restaurants.

"I wish they'd use it," she said. "I've seen some disgusting things in there."

Paul Swider can be reached at pswider@sptimes.com or 892-2271.

[Last modified March 4, 2008, 23:08:41]