Efficacy of super-oxidized water fogging in environmental decontamination.
The efficacy of decontamination using Sterilox fog was assessed against meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Acinetobacter baumannii. Ceramic tiles were inoculated with the test organisms and, once dried, were subjected to Sterilox fogging using a stationary vaporizing machine sited at a distance of 3m for 10 min and then left for a further hour. In a second experiment using the same organisms, the first 10-min fogging period was followed by a directed fogging period of 30s at a distance of 1m. Organisms were cultured from the tiles, plated on to tryptone soya agar and incubated for 48 h. Initial counts of approximately 10(9) colony-forming units/mL for both organisms were reduced approximately 10(4) fold for MRSA and 10(5.8) fold for A. baumannii when using a single fogging. The second fogging resulted in 10(6.8)-fold reductions for both organisms. Sterilox fog is safe and simple to use, and can reduce levels of nosocomial pathogens by a factor of almost 10(7). It is worthy of clinical evaluation in clinical settings to determine whether it maintains its microbicidal effects against a variety of organisms on different surfaces.
Clark
J
J
Department of Microbiology, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK. drjpclark@hotmail.com
Barrett
S P
SP
Rogers
M
M
Stapleton
R
R
D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000187:drug effects; D000336:Aerosols / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002516:Ceramics; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013481:Superoxides / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000336:Aerosols; D013481:Superoxides