title: Evaluation of the sporicidal activity of different chemical disinfectants used in hospitals against Clostridium difficile.
abstract: Decontamination of surfaces and medical equipment is integral to the control of Clostridium difficile transmission, and many products claim to inactivate this bacterium effectively. Thirty-two disinfectants were tested against spores of C. difficile in a suspension test based on European Standard BS EN 13704:2002, with contact times of 1 and 60 min in simulations of clean (0.3% albumin) and dirty (3% albumin) conditions. The addition of a 1-min contact time was chosen as a more realistic simulation of probable real-life exposures in the situation being modelled than the 60 min specified by the Standard. The manufacturer's lowest recommended concentrations for use were tested. Sixteen products achieved >10(3) reduction in viability after 60 min (the pass criterion for the Standard) under both clean and dirty conditions. However, only eight products achieved >10(3) reduction in viability within 1 min under dirty conditions. Three products failed to reduce the viability of the C. difficile spores by a factor of 10(3) in any of the test conditions. This study highlights that the application of disinfectants claiming to be sporicidal is not, in itself, a panacea in the environmental control of C. difficile, but that carefully chosen environmental disinfectants could form part of a wider raft of control measures that include a range of selected cleaning strategies.
authors.affiliation: HPA Microbiological Services Division, Porton Down, Salisbury, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Speight
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Macken
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chitnis
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006761:Hospitals; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D004202:Disinfectants