Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
J Hosp Infect. 2017 Jun;96(2):172-176. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2016.11.017. Epub 2016 Dec 1.
Waterborne pathogens such as Pseudomonas spp. and Legionella spp. may persist in hospital water networks despite chemical disinfection. Point-of-use filtration represents a physical control measure that can be applied in high-risk areas to contain the exposure to such pathogens. New technologies have enabled an extension of filters' lifetimes and have made available faucet hollow-fibre filters for water ultrafiltration.
To compare point-of-use filters applied to cold water within their period of validity.
Faucet hollow-fibre filters (filter A), shower hollow-fibre filters (filter B) and faucet membrane filters (filter C) were contaminated in two different sets of tests with standard bacterial strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa DSM 939 and Brevundimonas diminuta ATCC 19146) and installed at points-of-use. Every day, from each faucet, 100 L of water was flushed. Before and after flushing, 250 mL of water was collected and analysed for microbiology.
There was a high capacity of microbial retention from filter C; filter B released only low Brevundimonas spp. counts; filter A showed poor retention of both micro-organisms.
Hollow-fibre filters did not show good micro-organism retention. All point-of-use filters require an appropriate maintenance of structural parameters to ensure their efficiency.
尽管经过化学消毒，假单胞菌和军团菌等水传播病原体仍可能在医院供水管网中持续存在。局部过滤是一种物理控制措施，可在高风险区域应用，以控制此类病原体的暴露。新技术延长了过滤器的使用寿命，并提供了用于水超滤的龙头中空纤维过滤器。
比较在有效期内应用于冷水的局部过滤器。
龙头中空纤维过滤器（过滤器 A）、淋浴中空纤维过滤器（过滤器 B）和龙头膜过滤器（过滤器 C）在两组不同的测试中用标准细菌菌株（铜绿假单胞菌 DSM 939 和少动鞘氨醇单胞菌 ATCC 19146）进行污染，并安装在使用点。每天从每个龙头冲洗 100 升水。冲洗前后，收集 250 毫升水进行微生物分析。
过滤器 C 具有很高的微生物截留能力；过滤器 B 仅释放低浓度的少动鞘氨醇单胞菌；过滤器 A 对两种微生物的截留效果均不佳。
中空纤维过滤器对微生物的截留效果不佳。所有局部过滤器都需要适当维护结构参数以确保其效率。
