Sterile Water for Irrigation

So I just came across about a dozen jugs of "Sterile Water For Irrigation USP" in my closet. Guess we over estimated how much we would use to flush my burns from my accident. Anyways, aside from putting them in a industrial sized first aid kit, is there any difference between Sterile water for irrigation and sterile water for injection? Aside from the jug having a tear off cap instead of a stopper, I would imagine they're identical. Google just gave me a ton of medical pdf's that you would find on the bottle label or in some medical leaflet.

I know I normally read that you should use the sterile water jug in a few days since bacteria growth is a risk (I have seen 3 days up to 10 days depending on who you talk to) so using a big 750mL jug in its entirety would be a no go, but if I was in a pinch...like my dog got hold of my last jug of water and ate it...could I use it to reconstitute some GH to last me till I can get an order in for new bottles?

I would suspect sterile water with a tear off cap would render it unsterile. I use the sterile water (with stopper) for diluting my GH thus injectable.

BAC water is $7 for 30ml at mountainmedical alongside some sources right here in the forum so I don't see the point in taking any risk at all with the bac-free water route, no matter how convenient. But yeah it ought to work if you're 100% confident it's still sterile and you're using it asap.

chocolatemalt said:

BAC water is $7 for 30ml at mountainmedical alongside some sources right here in the forum so I don't see the point in taking any risk at all with the bac-free water route, no matter how convenient. But yeah it ought to work if you're 100% confident it's still sterile and you're using it asap.

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Well...like i posted...lets say your in a pinch and out and need something for a few days until you can get your order...

As in my example was actually a real situation and my order of water won't be in till wednesday at the earliest since its a Saturday. I know full well where to buy it. But if I COULD get away with a few days..just open draw and dump whatever was left...I would. It's all sealed up still and I wasn't planning on letting it sit around. Just more so get me by.

According to Braun Medical, a manufacturer of sterile water for irrigation:

"Sterile Water for Irrigation USP is a sterile, hypotonic, nonpyrogenic irrigating fluid or pharmaceutic aid (solvent) entirely composed of Sterile Water for Injection USP. It is prepared by distillation and contains no antimicrobial or bacteriostatic agents or added buffers. The pH is 5.7 (5.0–7.0)"

There is no difference between this water and sterile water marked for injection. The only reason why it is marked for irrigation is to imply that there is nothing added to change the refractive index of the water that might change what an endoscopic urological procedure would look like to the operating doc. The only other difference is the packaging and the fact that the bottle probably has a port to connect to a urological type irrigation device.

I'd load up however many syringes you think you'll need until your bacstat water comes in, then toss the rest of the container, as you have no way of keeping it sterile once it is opened. I'd also pull a little extra head-space in the syringes you are not using that day and put them in the freezer or deep-freeze if you have one. Deep freeze temperatures are just as effective(some study I have read indicates that it is more effective) than autoclaving for sterility. Then just pull out the syringe you need a couple hours early, or thaw by running hot water over the barrel of the syringe.

Phil6502 said:

According to Braun Medical, a manufacturer of sterile water for irrigation:

"Sterile Water for Irrigation USP is a sterile, hypotonic, nonpyrogenic irrigating fluid or pharmaceutic aid (solvent) entirely composed of Sterile Water for Injection USP. It is prepared by distillation and contains no antimicrobial or bacteriostatic agents or added buffers. The pH is 5.7 (5.0–7.0)"

There is no difference between this water and sterile water marked for injection. The only reason why it is marked for irrigation is to imply that there is nothing added to change the refractive index of the water that might change what an endoscopic urological procedure would look like to the operating doc. The only other difference is the packaging and the fact that the bottle probably has a port to connect to a urological type irrigation device.

I'd load up however many syringes you think you'll need until your bacstat water comes in, then toss the rest of the container, as you have no way of keeping it sterile once it is opened. I'd also pull a little extra head-space in the syringes you are not using that day and put them in the freezer or deep-freeze if you have one. Deep freeze temperatures are just as effective(some study I have read indicates that it is more effective) than autoclaving for sterility. Then just pull out the syringe you need a couple hours early, or thaw by running hot water over the barrel of the syringe.

Click to expand...

Freezing kills off pathogens as well or better than baking? Hard to believe... I assumed a fair % of them would either slow to a crawl, maybe cease replication, or even go into cyst form. And then wake right back up at room temp.

What if there are waterbears?

Water bears? Would I become a superhero if I injected it?

I don't think anything can kill those damn tartigrades, lol!

Lemme see if I can find that link...

Well, I was a little too broad in what I said. What I said above was dead wrong. I stand corrected. The study I was talking about was in reference to preserving the state of pasteurized substrates for mycological use. Freezing is only going to be good for PREVENTING growth, not initial sterilization. Especially with respect to most bacteria. Freezing is however pretty effective at killing non-bacterial parasites.

The ones that form the endospores(cysts) are even resistant to autoclaving. They can be almost impossible to kill without irradiation or chemical methods. That's why sterility isin't absolute, you can only say that you didn't see any result in the test, not that it truly IS sterile. Sterilization doesn't necesarily mean that there is no biological matter present, it only means that it isin't active in a pathological sence, or that it is no longer deleterious. Look at CJD, which can be contracted by prions, or pieces of malformed proteins. Viri infect by using a little piece of rna/dna, the virus itself is just the vector for insertion of said rna/dna into your cells.