title: Disinfectant wipes are appropriate to control microbial bioburden from surfaces: use of a new ASTM standard test protocol to demonstrate efficacy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of disinfectant pre-soaked wipes (DPW) to decontaminate high-touch environmental surfaces (HTES) by wiping is becoming increasingly widespread in the healthcare environment. However, DPW are rarely tested using conditions simulating their field use, and the label claims of environmental surface disinfectants seldom include wiping action.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the new E2967-15 standard test specific to wipes, particularly their ability to decontaminate surfaces and to transfer acquired contamination to clean surfaces.
  
  
  METHODS
  ASTM Standard E2967-15 was used by three independent laboratories to test the efficacy of five types of commercially available wipe products. All data generated were pulled together, and reproducibility and repeatability of the standard were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the commercial DPW tested achieved a >4log10 (>99.99%) reduction in colony-forming units (CFU) of Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumanii with 10s of wiping, but only one DPW containing 0.5% accelerated H2O2 prevented the transfer of bacteria to another surface.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This newly introduced standard method represents a significant advance in assessing DPW for microbial decontamination of HTES, and should greatly assist research and development, and in making more relevant and reliable claims on marketed DPW.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sattar
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infection Research Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kibbee
authors.affiliation: Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wesgate
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infection Research Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: M A C
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.affiliation: Filtaflex Ltd, Almonte, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.affiliation: Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. Electronic address: MaillardJ@cardiff.ac.uk.
authors.forename: J-Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Maillard
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000187:drug effects; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D004202:Disinfectants
keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii; Decontamination; Disinfection; High-touch environmental surfaces; Infection prevention and control; Nosocomial pathogens; Staphylococcus aureus; Wipes; Wiping