Even cleaning procedures cannot kill C.Diff in hospitals

8th of August 2019
Even cleaning procedures cannot kill C.Diff in hospitals

Latest research suggests that Clostridium Difficile (C.diff) persisted on a variety of surfaces even after appropriate decontamination procedures.

Lovleen Tina Joshi PhD of Plymouth University in the UK and colleagues compiled the report - writing in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. C.diff spores were found on hospital surgical gowns as well as on stainless steel and vinyl flooring, after recommended treatment with disinfectant.

"The spores of the bacteria were able to grow after decontamination. This shows that spores are becoming resistant and we need to reconsider how we decontaminate and employ hygiene measures in hospitals," Joshi said.

Joshi and colleagues found C.diff spores were able to both "transfer and adhere to polypropylene spun gowns after being spiked in a liquid medium". Joshi noted that as the number of spores did not increase during contact time (10 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute, five minutes, 10 minutes), the transfer of spores likely occurred within the first 10 seconds.

This was designed to assess the potential for transmission to patients, by mimicking transfer of infectious bodily fluid in the clinical setting, the team said.

Joshi said the work should help to inform future guidelines on infection control and biocides, and can be applied to hospitals anywhere in the world.

"It may be prudent to reconsider how much biocide we use currently, and to ensure infection control is standardised," she concluded.

 

 

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