Fabric sanitization process

Abstract

A process for sanitizing a fabric article which is contaminated with one or more microbials. The process steps include: (a) placing the fabric article in a vapor venting bag together with a cleaning/refreshing composition comprising water; and (b) subjecting the vapor venting bag to a heat source which supplies sufficient heat to vaporize the water, thereby exposing the microbials to the resulting water vapor. This process results in at least about 50% of the microbials being killed. The cleaning/refreshing composition preferably comprises at least one antimicrobial agent selected from the group consisting of 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol, trichlorocarbanalide, hydrogen peroxide, other oxygen bleaches, 4-chloro-3,5-dimethylphenol, iodine/iodophors, chlorhexidine, phenols, phospholipids, thymol, eugeniol, geraniol, oil of lemon grass, limonene and mixtures thereof. The process of this invention preferably further comprises the step pre-treating at least a portion of the fabric with a pre-treating composition comprising an antimicrobial agent selected from the group consisting of 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol, trichlorocarbanalide, hexachlorophene, chlorhexidine, o-phenylphenol, benzylquaternium salts and mixtures thereof

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.