GrizzlyBear
Posts: 278
Joined: 3/26/2004
From: Missoula Montana
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Depends on the degree of contamination. Do you draw blood on a regular basis with a flogger? How about with a cane? Do you use these on skin that is already raw and bleeding?
There is going to be some, perhaps very small, risk of pathogen transfer with leather toys, just as there is some risk of pathogen transfer on HCW hands in a clinical setting, even when proper handwashing procedures are followed. There is no way to completely clean any leather toy or unsealed wood toy that is heavily contaminated with blood, and if your play style is such that you are likely to use it at some point where it will again become wet with blood on bloody skin, you are doing something rather more likely to transfer infectious material. Either retire such toys for use with only one bottom, or use toys made of something else.
I don't seem to see many scenes involving lots of blood and leather floggers. Or any blood and leather floggers, for that matter. Maybe I'm just a whimp, and don't hit hard enough. Maybe my floggers need sharpening. If I WANT to leave a red shirt, I will use a singletail (with replaceable popper, TYVM) or a made for the occasion hemp rope cat-o-nine that is then given to the bottom.
If I feel the need to clean a leather toy or a cane, I use the cleaner I make up for the purpose, containing isopropyl alcohol 70% and a second-generation quaternary ammonium disinfectant at double hospital strength. I do use this on many floggers. First I test the dye on one tail with alcohol, to see if the dye is soluble. Some is, especially on suedes, and the alcohol will discolor it. If the dye is not affected, I lay the flogger tails out on a towel so that all have one face fully showing, I spray till the tails are all noticeably wet with the solution. I let them air dry, then turn them over and spray again. I notice only a very slight stiffness in the leather after this treatment, which disappears after a few practice strokes against the whipping post. It certainly does not "ruin" the leather. It's not perfect but its the best I can do.
The only bloodborne organism we really need to worry about in that situation (unless you go right from one bloody scene to another with the very same toy) is Hep B. It is both hard to kill, and lives for many days, even weeks, in air. Others, like HIV, either are easily killed, or die quickly in air. Unless of course you are undertaking to flog someone with an active skin infection like MRSA staphylococcus. Both 70% alcohol and the quats disinfectant I use are EPA rated for use on Hep B, and all the other usual suspects including staph. True that rating is for hard surfaces. But for trace amounts of pathogen I think it will be sufficient.
If the toys don't actually become wet with blood, whatever might be there will be on the surface and more subject to being cleaned away, or killed by disinfectants. Tiny amounts of body fluids that make it below the surface, aren't likely to resurface in sufficient quantity to find their way into anything less than open wound.
Note I said likely, there are no guarantees here. We do not use sterile toys in cleanrooms, on sterile field, with all parties concerned being first bathed in Techni-care wearing sterile gloves. I do not think we generally need to, for a flogging or a caning.
Oh, yeah, the chain flogger. You need a sink, so go find one. First rinse off the blood. Soap and warm water will help. Dunk it in bleach, diluted 9 to 1 with water, swish it around for a bit, then rinse well and dry. If it's bead chain, forget it. You will never get all the bleach out and it will corrode with unbelieveable speed. You could soak it in the alcohol mix, but if its actually wetted with blood, you will never get enough inside the beads to kill off what is hiding there. If your chain flogger has a metal handle, you could autoclave it. (Fancy word for a pressure cooker. $20 at Walmart. 30 minutes at 15 pounds pressure. I use it for my piercing toys and tools that don't come already sterile.)
Some references on disinfectants and infection control, if you aren't already bored with this topic:
http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/chemregindex.htm
http://www.apic.org/ brochure on infection control http://www.apic.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search§ion=Brochures&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=2558
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/sterile.html
_____________________________
GrizzlyBear
"Come to the edge," he said.
They said, "We are afraid."
"Come to the edge," he said.
They came. He pushed them. And they flew.
~Guillaume Apollinaire
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EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! Glad i didn't read this one over lunch.......... 
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