Centre for Plasma Microbiology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GJ, UK.
Laboratory for Gaseous Electronics, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 19;14(1):28593. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79276-4.
The use of reusable flexible endoscopes has increased dramatically over the past decade, however despite improvements in endoscope reprocessing, the continued emergence of endoscopy-associated outbreaks as a result of multi-drug resistant bacteria has highlighted the need for a new approach to disinfection. Here, the use of plasma activated liquids (PALs) for the elimination of mixed species biofilm contamination within the working channels of endoscopes was evaluated. Cold atmospheric pressure plasma was used to chemically activate water and a commercially available pH buffered peracetic acid to create PALs. Polytetrafluoroethylene endoscope surrogate test pieces were contaminated with clinically relevant mixed species biofilms. The efficacy of PALs for the decontamination of narrow lumens was compared against the commercial disinfectant. Plasma activation was found to increase the antibiofilm capabilities of pH buffered peracetic acid by introducing reactive chemical species into the solution. Disinfection of endoscopic test pieces with plasma activated disinfectant (PAD) resulted in a 7.30 log reduction of biofilm contamination in 5 min, surpassing the 4.39 log reduction observed with the currently used endoscope disinfection method. PAD also resulted in reduced regrowth and recolonization of the surface of the endoscopic test pieces. Minimal changes to the surface morphology and composition were observed following exposure to PAD in comparison to the commercial disinfectant, suggesting the developed approach is no more aggressive than current disinfection approaches.
在过去的十年中，可重复使用的软性内窥镜的使用量急剧增加，然而，尽管内窥镜的再处理得到了改进，但由于多药耐药菌，内窥镜相关的爆发仍在继续出现，这凸显了需要采取新的消毒方法。在这里，评估了等离子体激活液体 (PAL) 用于消除内窥镜工作通道内混合物种生物膜污染的用途。使用冷大气压等离子体化学激活水和市售的 pH 缓冲过氧乙酸以创建 PAL。聚四氟乙烯内窥镜替代试件被临床相关的混合物种生物膜污染。将 PAL 用于狭窄腔道的去污效果与商业消毒剂进行了比较。等离子体激活被发现通过向溶液中引入反应性化学物质来提高 pH 缓冲过氧乙酸的抗生物膜能力。用等离子体激活消毒剂 (PAD) 对内镜试件进行消毒，可在 5 分钟内使生物膜污染减少 7.30 对数，超过了目前使用的内镜消毒方法观察到的 4.39 对数减少。PAD 还导致内镜试件表面的再生长和再定植减少。与商业消毒剂相比，暴露于 PAD 后仅观察到表面形态和组成的微小变化，这表明所开发的方法并不比当前的消毒方法更具侵略性。
