A History of Sterilisation

The cradle of sterilisation has been around since the beginning of microbial life. Starting with extinctions, ancient sterilisation started with heat-fire, sun drying, burning, baking, boiling, extinction, cooking, mummification-and progressed to quarantining, asepsis, autoclaving, chemical sterilisation, filtration, irradiation, and other earlier similitudes (e.g., antisepsis, bacteriostatic decontamination, high-level disinfection, fumigation, germicide, inhibition, pasteurisation, quarantine, Tyndallization, and virucide).

As we explore the rich history of sterilisation, we encounter its influence in various aspects of our lives, from the awe-inspiring phenomena of volcanoes to the intricate process of mummification and even in the subtle practices of device, drug, food, tattooing, and spacecraft sterilisation. Yet the names and contributions of those who shaped this field often remain in the shadows. In this book, I strive to bring these names and their significant contributions to the forefront, ensuring they are not forgotten in the annals of history.

The original intent of this book was to provide as many valuable resources of information on presterilisation and sterilisation as possible to help protect against past (hidden), present, and future threats-such as buried and protected microbes, outer-space contaminants, like the extraterrestrial virus in Michael Crichton's novel The Andromeda Strain; antibiotic-resistant bacteria; and emerging pathogens, bloodborne pathogens, pandemic mutations (e.g., COVID-19, influenzas mutation viruses), etc .

The purpose here is to find historical and alternative defences to global extinctions, pandemics, pathogenic microbes, and viral mutations, defences that may be as and more resistant to current antibiotics, sterilisation methods, and vaccinations. If you can cause to extinct, kill, or sterilize the primitive life forms, mutated microbes, and resistant animals and microbes (e.g., tardigrades, spores, prions, etc.), you could potentially kill or sterilize migrating alien viruses, global pandemic pathogens, and mass-fixing microbes. If not, chances still improve by knowing the history of sterilisation back to paleontological times and alternatives.