Can Iodine Kill Vibrio? Analysis of Disinfection Effect and Usage Methods

When farming shellfish and aquatic products, they are easily threatened by Vibrio. If Vibrio is not eliminated, the farmed aquatic products will be difficult to grow healthily. So can iodine kill Vibrio?

1. What is Vibrio?

Vibrio is a Gram-negative bacterium with a short, curved, arc-shaped body and a single flagellum at its tail. It belongs to the family Vibrionaceae and the genus Vibrio. Its main distribution areas are the seawater and marine animals of estuaries, bays, and nearshore waters.

There are currently 91 species of Vibrio. The main pathogenic species for fish and shellfish are: Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio anguillarum, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, etc.; some Vibrio species can also cause human diseases, such as Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, etc.

Food poisoning caused by this bacterium is spread through improperly cooked seafood or salted products. Common sources are jellyfish, sea fish, sea shrimp, and various shellfish. Food poisoning can also occur after food containers or cutting boards contaminate this bacterium due to lack of separation between raw and cooked foods.

This bacterium can occur throughout the year. The incubation period is 5~72 hours, with an average of 24 hours. It can range from self-limiting diarrhea to moderate cholera-like symptoms, with abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and low fever. The stool is mostly watery, and in a few cases bloody-watery. Recovery is relatively quick, and post-illness immunity is not strong, so reinfection can occur.

2. Can iodine kill Vibrio?

Iodine can kill Vibrio. Vibrio is a relatively easy bacterium to kill, and general disinfectants can be used to kill Vibrio, such as chlorine-containing disinfectants, peroxide disinfectants, etc.

1. Chlorine-containing disinfectants

Refers to disinfectants that dissolve in water to produce hypochlorous acid with microbicidal activity. Their effective microbicidal ingredient is often expressed as available chlorine.

Hypochlorous acid has a small molecular weight and easily diffuses to the bacterial surface and penetrates the cell membrane into the bacterial body, oxidizing bacterial proteins and causing bacterial death.

Chlorine-containing disinfectants can kill various microorganisms, including vegetative bacteria, viruses, fungi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the most resistant bacterial spores.

2. Peroxide disinfectants

Peroxide disinfectants have strong oxidizing properties. Various microorganisms are very sensitive to them, and they can kill all microorganisms.

Such disinfectants include hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, chlorine dioxide, and ozone, etc. Their advantage is that after disinfection they leave no residual toxicity on items.