The Influence Of Environmental Surface Pollution Of Disinfectant Wipes Compared With Hypochlorite Solution

Medical wipes are increasingly used in healthcare environments. This study evaluated the effects of sporicidal wipes and cloth soaked in 1,000 ppm chlorine solution in a clinical setting.

In a teaching hospital with 1,000 beds, a double crossover study was conducted on 2 different surgical and cardiovascular wards for 29 weeks. The intervention time included surface decontamination of medical wet wipes and pre-impregnated wipes or cloth soaked in chlorine, and then a 5-week baseline assessment of the microbial bioburden on the surface. The microbiological content of environmental samples from 11 surfaces is analyzed weekly.

A total of 1,566 environmental samples and 1,591 ATP swabs were analyzed during the trial. In general, the recovery rates of total aerobes (P <.001), total anaerobes (P <.001) and ATP measurement (P <.001) between wards and different parts of the crossover study There are significant differences. In general, the use of wipes produced the greatest reduction in total aerobic and anaerobic counts compared to baseline data or the use of 1,000 ppm chlorine. In general, the introduction of training plus daily wipe disinfection significantly reduced the recovery of multi-drug resistant organisms from the surface. Reverting to the use of 1,000 ppm chlorine caused the number of bio-positive sites for multi-drug resistant bacteria to rise again.

This double crossover study is the first comparison of a controlled field trial using medical wet wipes and cotton cloth immersed in a bucket of hypochlorite to reduce the surface microbial bioburden. The results show that pre-impregnated wipes have advantages in significantly reducing the microbial bioburden of high contact surfaces.