Humidifier and Germs

[kentoboo]

I just came down with my first upper respiratory infection since being on c-pap. (about 2 1/2 years.) My question is: Could the humidifier be holding the bacteria and keep introducing them into you night after night?

[Pugsy]

Unlikely.

Colds are caused by viruses not bacteria. Now sometimes we come down with a secondary bacterial infection due to the virus just lowering our resistance to germs in general.

When the cold symptoms have run their course just give your mask and long hose an extra good cleaning as a matter of precaution. It's extremely unlikely that the cold virus or any subsequent bacteria could travel the distance needed back to the humidifier tank to set up housekeeping and multiply.
Clean your tank in good hot soapy water and use distilled water and germs really won't have a way to establish a foothold even if they could make the journey to the tank.

[archangle]

In theory, Pugsy's right.

Also, if you get your own germs into the equipment, that's nowhere near as bad as using someone else's equipment and getting their germs. Any germs you're pumping into the equipment probably aren't going to bother you for a while. That's especially true for viruses. Viruses can't multiply outside of the body and usually die fairly quickly outside the body.

Do check your water tank, hose, and mask to see they're clean.

I'm a bit paranoid about keeping my equipment clean.

I have two or more of everything, water tank, hose, and mask. I disassemble and dishwash each of these (except the hose) after a week's use, and let the clean set dry out for a week to help kill the germs. I hook the hose to the kitchen faucet and run hot water through it, then dry on an old CPAP and let it sit for a week. I leave the Swift FX hooked up to the hoseand give it a thorough rinse as well in addition to dishwashing.

The Swift FX does have a little "dead space" between the inner and outer cushion that's really hard to clean. I've recently started using the FX and am a little paranoid about cleaning that. I may start dropping the cushions into a pot of boiling water once a week. I turn the heat off before I drop them in and let it cool down for half an hour or so.

I've also dropped my PRS1 and S9 tank into a pot of boiling water with the heat off as well.

There are ResMed manufacturer's recommended disinfection procedures listed in my useful links in my signature. cpap.com sells Control III disinfection chemicals. I haven't used it, but it's probably pretty effective.