No-Touch Automated Disinfection System for Decontamination of Surfaces in Hospitals

Background: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) remain a common problem, which suggests that standard decontamination procedures are insufficient. Thus, new methods of decontamination are needed in hospitals. Methods: We assessed the effectiveness of a no-touch automated disinfection (NTD) system in the decontamination of 50 surfaces in 10 hospital rooms. Contamination of surfaces was assessed with a microbiological assay and an ATP bioluminescence assay. Unacceptable contamination was defined as > 100 colony forming units/100 cm2 in the microbiological assay, and as ≥ 250 relative light units in the ATP assay. Results: When measured with the microbiological assay, 11 of 50 surfaces had unacceptable contamination before NTD, and none of the surfaces had unacceptable contamination after NTD (p < 0.001). On the ATP bioluminescence assay, NTD decreased the number of surfaces with unacceptable contamination from 28 to 13, but this effect was non-significant (p = 0.176). On the microbiological assay taken before NTD, the greatest contamination exceeded the acceptable level by more than 11-fold (lamp holder, 1150 CFU/100 cm2). On the ATP bioluminescence assay taken before NTD, the greatest contamination exceeded the acceptable level by more than 43-fold (Ambu bag, 10,874 RLU). Conclusion: NTD effectively reduced microbiological contamination in all hospital rooms. However, when measured with the ATP bioluminescence assay, the reduction of contamination was not significant.

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Application of a fluorescent marker with quantitative bioburden methods to assess cleanliness

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology ◽

10.1017/ice.2018.222 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (11) ◽

pp. 1296-1300 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

I-Chen Hung ◽

Hao-Yuan Chang ◽

Aristine Cheng ◽

An-Chi Chen ◽

Ling Ting ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Center ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Survey Study ◽

Environmental Cleaning ◽

Fluorescent Marker ◽

Atp Assay ◽

Atp Bioluminescence ◽

Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Cross Transmission ◽

Atp Bioluminescence Assay

AbstractBackgroundImprovement of environmental cleaning in hospitals has been shown to decrease in-hospital cross transmission of pathogens. Several objective methods, including aerobic colony counts (ACCs), the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay, and the fluorescent marker method have been developed to assess cleanliness. However, the standard interpretation of cleanliness using the fluorescent marker method remains uncertain.ObjectiveTo assess the fluorescent marker method as a tool for determining the effectiveness of hospital cleaning.DesignA prospective survey study.SettingAn academic medical center.MethodsThe same 10 high-touch surfaces were tested after each terminal cleaning using (1) the fluorescent marker method, (2) the ATP assay, and (3) the ACC method. Using the fluorescent marker method under study, surfaces were classified as totally clean, partially clean, or not clean. The ACC method was used as the standard for comparison.ResultsAccording to the fluorescent marker method, of the 830 high-touch surfaces, 321 surfaces (38.7%) were totally clean (TC group), 84 surfaces (10.1%) were partially clean (PC group), and 425 surfaces (51.2%) were not clean (NC group). The TC group had significantly lower ATP and ACC values (mean ± SD, 428.7 ± 1,180.0 relative light units [RLU] and 15.6 ± 77.3 colony forming units [CFU]/100 cm2) than the PC group (1,386.8 ± 2,434.0 RLU and 34.9 ± 87.2 CFU/100 cm2) and the NC group (1,132.9 ± 2,976.1 RLU and 46.8 ± 119.2 CFU/100 cm2).ConclusionsThe fluorescent marker method provided a simple, reliable, and real-time assessment of environmental cleaning in hospitals. Our results indicate that only a surface determined to be totally clean using the fluorescent marker method could be considered clean.

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Efficiency of cleaning and disinfection of surfaces: correlation between assessment methods

Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem ◽

10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0608 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 70 (6) ◽

pp. 1176-1183 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Oleci Pereira Frota ◽

Adriano Menis Ferreira ◽

Odanir Garcia Guerra ◽

Marcelo Alessandro Rigotti ◽

Denise de Andrade ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Emergency Care ◽

Visual Inspection ◽

Significant Relationships ◽

Colony Forming Units ◽

Before And After ◽

Atp Bioluminescence ◽

Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Atp Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Cleaning And Disinfection

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the correlation among the ATP-bioluminescence assay, visual inspection and microbiological culture in monitoring the efficiency of cleaning and disinfection (C&D) of high-touch clinical surfaces (HTCS) in a walk-in emergency care unit. Method: a prospective and comparative study was carried out from March to June 2015, in which five HTCS were sampled before and after C&D by means of the three methods. The HTCS were considered dirty when dust, waste, humidity and stains were detected in visual inspection; when ≥2.5 colony forming units per cm2 were found in culture; when ≥5 relative light units per cm2 were found at the ATP-bioluminescence assay. Results: 720 analyses were performed, 240 per method. The overall rates of clean surfaces per visual inspection, culture and ATP-bioluminescence assay were 8.3%, 20.8% and 44.2% before C&D, and 92.5%, 50% and 84.2% after C&D, respectively (p<0.001). There were only occasional statistically significant relationships between methods. Conclusion: the methods did not present a good correlation, neither quantitative nor qualitatively.

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Adenosine Triphosphate Bioluminescence for Hygiene Monitoring in Health Care Institutions

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-57.6.509 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 57 (6) ◽

pp. 509-513 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

KLAUS SEEGER ◽

MANSEL W. GRIFFITHS

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Adenosine Triphosphate ◽

Meat Product ◽

Plate Count ◽

Standard Plate Count ◽

Atp Assay ◽

Health Care Institutions ◽

Atp Bioluminescence ◽

Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Atp Bioluminescence Assay

An investigation was conducted to assess the practical use of an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing meat slicers in eight health care institutions. The ATP bioluminescence assay was compared to conventional swabbing techniques using standard plate count to enumerate microbial load. Assays were performed on meat slicers before use, after slicing a meat product and after sanitizing. There was a general overall agreement in results obtained by both methods but the ATP assay gave a better indication of the cleanliness of the meat slicer as it was able to detect the presence of meat residues left on the blade after improper sanitation. Results were available within 5 min using the ATP bioluminescence method, thus providing an opportunity for immediate remedial action.

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Evaluation of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay for monitoring effluent quality and disinfection performance

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrjc.2013.110 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 114-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Natalie Linklater ◽

Banu Örmeci

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽

Effluent Quality ◽

Atp Assay ◽

Chlorine Disinfection ◽

Atp Bioluminescence ◽

Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Water And Wastewater ◽

Atp Bioluminescence Assay ◽

Potential Use

This study investigated the use of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay as a tool for monitoring water and wastewater quality and disinfection performance subsequent to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and chlorine disinfection. Two different commercially available ATP assays were used in the study and controlled experiments were carried out using a pure Escherichia coli culture to determine how the ATP content of samples change after they are exposed to UV and chlorine. Finally, a selected assay was used with samples collected from drinking water and wastewater treatment plants to assess its potential use by treatment plants for process and effluent monitoring. The ATP assay could detect the chlorine damage to cells but the detection limit of the assay was not sensitive enough to determine the level of chlorine disinfection performance. No clear trend was observed between UV irradiation and ATP content of the cells. Samples were also collected from water and wastewater treatment plants and a good correlation was observed between the culture-based methods and the ATP assay results, which indicate the potential use of the ATP assay as a process and effluent quality monitoring tool at treatment plants.

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