Betadine/Providone are commercial names for buffered iodine. By adding polyvinalpyrrolidone the stinging and inflammations that prevent wound bandaging or casts are eliminated. You are getting a iodine PH value of 7. There are two % of betadine, one is 10% which delivers all of 1% available iodine and a.10 used for pre opt scrubbing. Recent tests have shown even higher % of straight iodine are neccessary for effective cryptosporidium treatment. So the answer would seem to be get straight iodine to be truly safe. With the dangers some people face I would consider a second option in your preparations. And now after using all these big words i'm getting a drink of water- no, make it last night's champagne. I'm not driving anywhere <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />