It is not known how efficiently a standard dry cleaning cycle can kill bacteria or viruses. In-situ experiments were carried out to determine the cidal activity of such a cycle using perchloroethylene solvent against five clinical bacterial isolates and a DNA bacteriophage. Viable counts of bacteria recovered from material after dry cleaning were reduced by 3-8 logs, with up to 10(3) colony forming units (cfu) surviving per strip. Numbers of bacteriophage were only reduced by 10-100 fold. The resistance of the bacteriophage to solvent and heat (60 degrees C) was compared with that of polio and herpes simplex viruses in vitro. Polio virus and bacteriophage, but not herpes simplex virus, survived exposure to perchloroethylene at room temperature for 40 min. Dry cleaning with perchloroethylene is not bactericidal and is particularly poorly virucidal for non-enveloped viruses.