Brief report
Can pulsed xenon ultraviolet light systems disinfect aerobic bacteria in the absence of manual disinfection?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2014.12.012Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • We sampled 38 hospital rooms for aerobic bacteria on surfaces.

  • Utilized PX-UV as a disinfectant tool without any manual cleaning.

  • Collected aerobic bacteria samples before and after PX-UV disinfection.

  • Found a significant decrease in aerobic bacteria counts after PX-UV usage.

Whereas pulsed xenon-based ultraviolet light no-touch disinfection systems are being increasingly used for room disinfection after patient discharge with manual cleaning, their effectiveness in the absence of manual disinfection has not been previously evaluated. Our study indicates that pulsed xenon-based ultraviolet light systems effectively reduce aerobic bacteria in the absence of manual disinfection. These data are important for hospitals planning to adopt this technology as adjunct to routine manual disinfection.

Key Words

No-touch disinfection
Enhanced manual cleaning
Aerobic bacteria colony count
Hospital acquired infections

Cited by (0)

This work was supported by a Merit Review grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to JZ (IIR 12-347). The study's laboratory activity was supported by a grant from Xenex Healthcare Services, LLC. Further, this work was supported by the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (Temple, Tex), with additional support from Scott & White Healthcare (Temple, Tex) and the Center for Applied Health Research (Temple, Tex). The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Xenex Healthcare Services did not participate in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; or in the writing of the report or in the decision to submit the work for publication. The device used in this study is owned by Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. All authors made a significant contribution to the project. CJ and NGM developed the methodology, protocol, performed data collection, and manuscript preparation. DB helped with data collection and manuscript preparation. FV, IL, JZ, LC, and ES participated in statistical analysis and contributed to the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Part of this work was presented as a poster at the APIC 2014 41st Annual Educational Conference, Anaheim, Calif, June 7-9, 2014.

Conflicts of interest: None to report.