Alcohol as a disinfectant for aseptic surgery of rodents: crossing the thin blue line?

Recently, the use of alcohol (i.e., ethanol or isopropanol) has been discouraged as disinfectants for survival surgical procedures for rats and mice because of perceptions of inadequacy of killing of bacterial spores and lack of efficacy in the presence of organic debris. However, spore-forming bacteria are a minor (essentially nonexistent) threat for causing postoperative infections in rats and mice (but not necessarily hamsters, guinea pigs, or other rodents), and organic debris, with appropriate effort, can be removed from soiled instruments by using physical scrubbing. Although the metal-corrosive properties of alcohol and the lengthy times needed for adequate disinfection are drawbacks, there are essentially no microbiologically relevant reasons to discourage disinfection by ethanol or isopropanol in rat and mouse surgery.