disinfecting toys

[Barbee]

we have a nasty case of coxsackievirus which can live on toys for months. i don't want to bleach my toys. would vinegar work well enough?

[hmkrueger]

I couldn't find anything definitive on the net to back this up, but tea tree oil is what popped into my head. Or perhaps soaking what you can in vinegar? Bac Out? Maybe all of the above mixed together w/ water in a big tub? I, myself, might make an exception in the case of coxsackie and use chlorine bleach. I heard that if left in the sun that the harmful components are rendered inert and you're left with salt water, but my scientist friend and I couldn't find anything to prove that 100%, either.

Confession: DH just had food poisoning and I made an exception and used bleach water to clean the 2 bathrooms he was in.

[Jojo F.]

I would use straight hydrogen peroxide and then straight vinegar. If I felt I need more I'd use some TTO and lavender.

[~girlsmum~]

On my local forum we've discussed running smaller toys through a sterilization cycle in the dishwasher with some tea tree oil or vinegar. Or soaking toys in hot water and tea tree oil as well for a few hours.

[hmkrueger]

I forgot to add that there has been some studying of thyme and clove bud oil for disinfecting purposes, but I read somewhere that clove bud oil is something to be careful of around kiddos. Here's the link to the non-definitive stuff I did find:

http://takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/files/ar0053.pdf