title: Efficacy of commercially available wipes for disinfection of pulse oximeter sensors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examined the effectiveness of commercially available disinfecting wipes and cosmetic wipes in disinfecting pulse oximeter sensors contaminated with pathogenic bacterial surrogates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surrogates of potential biological warfare agents and bacterial pathogens associated with hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) were spotted on test surfaces, with and without an artificial test soil (sebum), allowed to dry, and then cleaned with different commercially available cleaning and disinfecting wipes or sterile gauze soaked in water, bleach (diluted 1:10), or 70% isopropanol. The percentage of microbial survival and an analytical estimation of remaining test soil on devices were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Wipes containing sodium hypochlorite as the active ingredient and gauze soaked in bleach (1:10) were the most effective in removing both vegetative bacteria and spores. In the presence of selective disinfectants, sebum had a protective effect on vegetative bacteria, but not on spores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of sebum reduces the cleaning efficiency of some commercially available wipes for some select microbes. Various commercial wipes performed significantly better than the designated cleaning agent (70% isopropanol) in disinfecting the oximetry sensor. Cosmetic wipes were not more effective than the disinfecting wipes in removing sebum.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Infection Control, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Electronic address: poulomi.nandy@fda.hhs.gov.
authors.forename: Poulomi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nandy
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Infection Control, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD.
authors.forename: Anne D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Infection Control, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Infection Control, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD.
authors.forename: Victoria M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Hitchins
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D010092:Oximetry
keywords: Disinfection; Hospital-acquired infection (HAI); Noncritical device; Pulse oximeter sensor; Test soil