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Just spent a bit of time searching and reading to no avail. I have a pretty severe sinus cold that seems to be working it's way to a mild case of bronchitis according to the doc. I did do a little bit of playing while this was developing so I want to make sure I get rid of anything that might be hiding in the horns. Would the Sani-mist MP disinfectant do the job or would I need something stronger to take care of it? I carry a spray bottle of sani-mist in each of the horn cases for mp sharing or trying new/different mps with other players so I have it handy, but my primary concern is getting rid of bugs so that I don't get sick again as this has laid me out pretty hard.

Thanks.

If it is a cold virus, they tend not last very long out in the world. If you did in fact have a "cold", the virus part is usually over in a few days. The hanging on with all the hacking up green crap part is from bacteria that normally lives in your head anyway leaking down into your respiratory tract because of the extra snot brought on by the cold virus (which is probably long gone by now).

Often, what many people mistake for a cold is a bacterial infection brought on by snot brought on by allergies. Snot is the culprit. Overdose on generic Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) and pseudoephedrine. Stop the snot.

If there is mildew living in the horn, you want to get that killed and cleaned out. If you accidentally suck those spores into your bod, you might not like it.

HI-
Clean the horn and mouthpiece(s) with Hydrogen Peroxide, and then rinse with water. That will kill any bacteria in horns/mouthpieces.
Regards-
mark

My wife, a microbiologist, claims that germs and bacteria can't survive in or on brass. Then, I tell her that I would think it might survive if living in crud on the surface of the brass, to which she's not sure about.

In August, I went through a winter-type sinus infection that went into my chest, producing a cough and eventually a low grade fever. I finally went to the doctor and he put me on amoxicillin and it gradually went away. However, I played right through the whole ordeal, as I had a few gigs a week. It wasn't fun with the cough. The infection is long gone and I never did anything to sterilize my 2 horns. I probably washed out my mouthpiece, but I don't remember.

So, I suppose there could be a few factors here. Maybe, my horns aren't dirty, so the germs didn't have much crud to cling to. Maybe, I was lucky. Maybe, my wife was right (this time!)

I am not a doctor; nor do I play one on TV, but I would think that once you build up the resistance to that viral strain, you would not get reinfected. (by that strain anyway) Perhaps someone can correcet me on this if I am wrong.

I would think that a good cleaning of the mouthpiece will physically wash away the germs. Put it in the dishwasher. The heat there will sterilize it. I do this with my school mouthpieces occasionally. The lunch ladies think it is the funnyiest thing, but it gives them something to talk about anyway. If you want to be sure, a disinfectant of some kind would do the trick. Hydrogen Peroxide sounds like a good suggestion. Be sure to rinse thoroughly after that. Or your could boil it. Clean out the lead pipe well also while you are at it.

I notice on some of those mouthpiece sprays they call them "sanitizers" not "sterilizers." I do not know of that is a technical difference, but that is why I do not use them. When kids share mouthpieces at school I use a cleaner I get from my custodians called "Quat". They use it to clean the food preparation surfaces in the kitchen and cafeteria tables, so it is safe if digested but also sterilizes the surface. I figure if it is good for the kitchen cleaning it should do the trick on mouthpieces. Plus I get it free there!

If you are using your own mouthpiece, I would not worry about it too much. After all, they are your germs, not someone else's. Now that would be gross.

ken k