what other liquids can one use as medical disinfectant besides alcohol? Let's assume alcohol is in short supply.
Can one use white wine as disinfectant?

What are you trying to disinfect?

clean water and soap--i have about 20 empty saline water
bottles that were used in a hospital ER to wash out wounds.
great bottles for keeping things like rice and flour dry on
canoe trips..light weight--won't break--safe plastic--
wine??think about how it's made--fermented grapes..i think
you can use just about any liquid thats not filthy to wash
out a wound--and thats the trick..if you wash out the gunk
that was on whatever made the wound the body can heal itself.

As a liquid medical disinfectant, Povidone iodine, merthiolate, camphor, tea tree oil, bleach, hot water, silver nitrate (aq), ferric chloride (aq), copper chloride (aq). There's a lot more, just those off the top of my head to begin with.

Hydrogen Peroxide

I'm not real fond of hydrogen peroxide as an open-wound disinfectant. Tends to "burn" exposed tissue.

That being said, I knew a surgeon who would use a mix of povidone-iodine and hydrogen peroxide to disinfect abdominal cavities...called it "the foaming brown goo"

Any alcoholic beverage can be a successful disinfectant (say, for medical instruments) if the alcohol percentage is high enough (say, around 140 proof, or 70% alcohol) and the exposure time is long enough.

Just about any alcoholic "drinking" liquid can be used to irrigate a wound, if that's what you're after. At the worst, it will help clean the wound.

There have been a number of studies using a bleach mixture for irrigating battlefield wounds, check google.

No but you can use vinegar.

For disinfecting flat surfaces: lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda
http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/housewaste/src/research.htm

regarding surgeons and their thoughts on antisepsis: an arkansas orthopedist recommended the application of a paste made3 up of plaster dust and bourbon to superficial skin infections-he said the bacteria would get drunk and stone each other to death.

Hydrogen peroxide works, but seems to be on the outs with first aiders. Apparently it keeps killing tissue long after it's used, so it slows healing. My unscientific experiments tend to support this, though I wouldn't hesitate to use it if that were the only choice. I still use it on my hounds because they can lick it without harm.

I'm told that mild acids like vinegar won't work on 'gut' bacteria like e-coli which are toughened against acid environments. For surface disinfecting, I always have household bleach on hand. Mixed with water in a spray bottle, plus a few drops of dish soap, it's the all-purpose cleaner/disinfectant. Kills mould and mildew dead, and hantavirus too (lot of deer mice around this old farmstead).

Betadine scrub works, but it stinks, stains, and is generally darn messy. Possibly good to have around since it seems to keep.

The best stuff I've found for for wounds is "Hibitane soap" which comes in a concentrated form. Mix very sparingly with water. Doesn't sting. Seems to work well on bacteria and fungal infections. Goes a long, long way too. I get it from my hounds' veterinary clinic. Half an ounce of this stuff accompanies me on outdoors trips. (To the best of my knowledge, it's the same stuff used on people, but can't be labelled that way if sold by a vet. That said, use at your own risk.)

High-test booze, as suggested above, will do a lot. I'd suggest taking a long swig before pouring it on an open wound. The swig, plus the jumping around and cursing that will follow application, helps encourage vascular flow. :-)

It's called "Dakin's solution" - they used it for a month on my ulcerated leg wound

It can best be described as "fun" When they first tried it on my wound, it stinged/burned so badly I could not tolerate it, but say Aquacel AG silver bandages didn't hurt at all. two months later, neither hurt - a month after that, the Aquacel AG burned a bit.

To say wound care is dynamic is an understatement

Right now, they are using a time release/controled release idodine based salve on me - keeps the iodine below .9% so it doesn't hurt the wound bed, and it also absorbs any exudate

Having a chronic open wound that was as large as 24 square inches has taught me a LOT about wound care.

Oh - debridement is a "fun" activity - Large doses of strong pain killers are still necessary almost 6 months later. The good news is I seem to be down to about 5 sqaure inces, maybe a bit less

Benzalkonium Chloride. Its the stuff in some of the antiseptic wipes and washes. I found it in a 1oz bottle recently. Doesn't sting like some of the others and doesn't stain like mercurachrome (sp?) or betadine.

I would either use Povidone-Iodine (Betadine) or Chlorhexidine Digluconate (Sterilon). Both can be used in a wound and don't sting, but the sterilon can be used if someone is allergic to betadine

First line of defense is soap and water.

Clean water applied with some force from a syringe goes a long way toward washing dirt and germs out of a wound. Rinse, or blast away, the dirt and germs and you don't need much disinfection.

An iodine or dilute bleach solution can work well but you need to watch the duration and strength because most things that will kill or inactivate germs will also damage healthy tissue. And damaged tissue is a good place for infections to get a serious foothold.

An interesting alternative that has been used is honey. Honey is intensely hydroscopic so it tends to dry out and inactivate bacteria while being relatively gentle to the surrounding tissue. The few small studies used a mix of honey and povidone iodine and they seemed to show some success in stopping the infection and speeding healing in otherwise difficult infections.

I have long believed the mix-oxidant solution produced by the MIOX has potential medical use, both as a field-expedient surface disinfectant on inanimate objects (tabletops, instruments, etc.) and for wound cleansing. I was searching the US Patent Office for another patent and came upon this patent:


Patent 7276255 Wound and Ulcer Treatment with Super-Oxidized Water

Pete

What kind liquid did the central character from the movie shooter used to cleanse his wounds?

I can't recall. Was it vinegar, and baking soda?

where does one get Benzalkonium Chloride in a bottle? I only seen it in antiseptic wipes.

"where does one get Benzalkonium Chloride in a bottle?"

The active ingredient in 'non-staining' Mercurochrome, same bottle and applicator but different label, is benzalkonium chloride. In the drug store the non-staining stuff you want is sold in the next slot over from the regular stuff.

Up side to this stuff is it doesn't contain the questionable chemicals the original version does and it doesn't contain the alcohol, which was the reason nasty red stuff burned like fire.

Name on the bottle is CureChrome. I found it in Walgreen's drugstore chain. This was made specifically for them but there are probably other companies making similar products.

Listerine? I imagine it would make you run like a scalded dog. The resultant benefits of high-speed running and screaming may need further study. Anyone feel like volunteering?

I am now convinced more the ever that the mixed-oxidant solution produced by the MIOX can be useful for emergency wound irrigation:

Klearwater Solution

Pete