Microbiology Research Unit, Division of Oral Biosciences, Dublin Dental University Hospital, University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Facilities Department, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
J Hosp Infect. 2018 Nov;100(3):e98-e104. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2018.01.012. Epub 2018 Feb 2.
Outbreaks of infection associated with microbial biofilm in hospital hand washbasin U-bends are being reported increasingly. In a previous study, the efficacy of a prototype automated U-bend decontamination method was demonstrated for a single non-hospital pattern washbasin. It used two electrochemically activated solutions (ECA) generated from brine: catholyte with detergent properties and anolyte with disinfectant properties.
To develop and test a large-scale automated ECA treatment system to decontaminate 10 hospital pattern washbasin U-bends simultaneously in a busy hospital clinic.
A programmable system was developed whereby the washbasin drain outlets, U-bends and proximal wastewater pipework automatically underwent 10-min treatments with catholyte followed by anolyte, three times weekly, over five months. Six untreated washbasins served as controls. Quantitative bacterial counts from U-bends were determined on Columbia blood agar, Reasoner's 2A agar and Pseudomonas aeruginosa selective agar following treatment and 24 h later.
The average bacterial densities in colony-forming units/swab from treated U-bends showed a >3 log reduction compared with controls, and reductions were highly significant (P<0.0001) on all media. There was no significant increase in average bacterial counts from treated U-bends 24 h later on all media (P>0.1). P. aeruginosa was the most prevalent organism recovered throughout the study. Internal examination of untreated U-bends using electron microscopy showed dense biofilm extending to the washbasin drain outlet junction, whereas treated U-bends were free from biofilm.
Simultaneous automated treatment of multiple hospital washbasin U-bends with ECA consistently minimizes microbial contamination and thus the associated risk of infection.
越来越多的医院洗手盆 U 型弯处微生物生物膜感染爆发被报道。在之前的研究中，已经证明了一种原型自动化 U 型弯消毒方法对单个非医院模式洗手盆有效。该方法使用两种由盐水产生的电化学激活溶液（ECA）：具有洗涤剂性能的阴极电解液和具有消毒剂性能的阳极电解液。
开发并测试一种大规模自动化 ECA 处理系统，以同时对繁忙医院诊所的 10 个医院模式洗手盆 U 型弯进行消毒。
开发了一种可编程系统， whereby自动对洗手盆排水出口、U 型弯和近端废水管道进行 10 分钟的阴极电解液处理，然后每周三次进行阳极电解液处理，共进行五个月。未处理的六个洗手盆作为对照。处理后和 24 小时后，从 U 型弯采集定量细菌计数，使用哥伦比亚血琼脂、雷纳 2A 琼脂和铜绿假单胞菌选择性琼脂进行测定。
与对照组相比，处理后的 U 型弯中细菌密度的菌落形成单位/拭子的平均值降低了>3 个对数级，并且在所有培养基上均具有高度显著差异（P<0.0001）。在所有培养基上，处理后的 U 型弯在 24 小时后细菌计数的平均值没有显著增加（P>0.1）。在整个研究过程中，铜绿假单胞菌是最常见的回收菌。未经处理的 U 型弯内部使用电子显微镜检查显示，密集的生物膜延伸到洗手盆排水出口连接处，而经过处理的 U 型弯则没有生物膜。
用 ECA 对多个医院洗手盆 U 型弯进行同步自动化处理可以持续最大限度地减少微生物污染，从而降低感染风险。
