Thanks for the reply. The more potasium permanganate is discussed on the list the less and less important it seems to be, except perhaps as a fungucide. Doug, you have it listed in your PSK. Have you ever used it?<br><br>Beach Do, as a practicle matter, if I'm hiking and someone gets a bad cut, I am not likely to have a bottle of sterile water. If I have previously treated my drinking water with Iodine, it's quite likely that my mouth have been on the nozzle, as you indicated, that would be bad.<br><br>Treatment of any water will take approx. 30 minutes. So it seems that unless you have betadine wipes that it would be best to let the blood flow a bit (assuming its not a massive, life threatening laceration, and then bandage. <br><br>Once the bleeding has stopped, you could clean up with sterile water, but by then the effect may be minimal as the blood has already clotted and formed a scab. Any nasties would already be in the wound and/or blood stream, or bared from entry by the scab, correct?<br><br>(I wouls still clean the area to prevent future infections should the scab open up, though).