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Thursday a week ago I started coming down with what turned out to be the Flu at band practice. Today I feel like I'm ready to join the ranks of the living again. Is there a quick (safe for me and the horn) way to disinfect the horn so that I don't breath in all the crap I breathed into the horn as I was getting sick? One bout of the flu is enough.

Our concert is this Sunday and I am a little reluctant to take it apart to wash it so close to the concert.

Thanks

I doubt you can reinfect yourself. If it was indeed a virus, you'll have built up anti-bodies to that particular strain of pathogen.

The flu virus can't live outside of a warm, moist host environment (person or animal) for very long. Some studies suggest up to 48 hours, but that's dependant on environmental conditions. (This is standard knowledge in hospital infection control, something I know from being part of the renovation/design team for urgent care and emergency room renovations - it's why the hospital waiting room is always colder than you want it to be and really dry too).

There are also claims about the ability for copper and silver to kill pathogens. Sometimes hospital equipment is made with copper embedded in the surface for this reason (silver would be too expensive). Good news there - your mouthpiece is probably silver plated. Your tuba is made of brass (a copper alloy). Both materials should also help eliminate the flu fairly quickly. The only bad thing I've ever heard of surviving the inside of a brass instrument is mold/fungus.

If you want to, run some warm water through your instrument to rinse it out - mouthpiece to main tuning slide only so you don't need to disassemble anything. Alcohol also kills the flu virus (think hand sanitizer), so you could run a mix of alcohol and water if you're really worried about it. You can just wash your mouthpiece with your dishes in the sink or dishwasher. I don't think either is needed, but I'm just an engineer, not a clinical pathologist.

Edit - According to the WHO - http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topic ... -influenza - The flu virus is destroyed by alcohol, chlorine (typically found in city water), or temperatures above 70C (that's almost 160F, I don't know if that will damage laquer). After seeing how long the flu can survive in something like mucus, I'm thinking now that a quick flush is a good idea, even if you don't do anything special to the water, just to make sure there's nothing left in there.

If you want you can make a mild solution of chlorine bleach (household bleach) and water and run that through the horn. Try not to splash too much on your cloths as it could pull the color out.

Thanks guys. I appreciate thoughts/recommendations. Of course, we don't have lava in SC. But we do have great beaches and really awesome seafood.

I pull the main tuning slide and then run a warm solution of Dawn dish soap through my tuba. I then flush with warm clear water, let dry, and 're-oil. Works great.
Jim

Hydrogen peroxide.....