Iyer Shay, Ouyang Zenhwa, Vinayak Arathi
VCA West Coast Specialty and Emergency Animal Hospital, 18300 Euclid Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708, USA.
1 IDEXX Drive, Westbrook, ME 04098, USA.
Microorganisms. 2025 Jun 30;13(7):1537. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms13071537.
A total of 1.6 million tons of personal protective equipment (PPE) waste has been generated daily since 2019 and this production has not abated since that time. Within PPEs, isolation gowns make up the largest percentage by weight of landfill waste. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of rapid, reproducible disinfection protocols to help facilitate safe reuse and minimize risks from microbial contamination. Disinfection of isolation gowns via fogging with hydrogen peroxide (HP) and hypochlorous acid (HC) were evaluated in the present study compared to standard ethylene oxide (EO) sterilization. This study was conducted at VCA West Coast Specialty and Emergency Animal Hospital in the United States. Ten isolation gowns (control) were cultured on tryptic soy agar contact plates in 10 predetermined areas to determine microbial load and morphology/types on non-sterile gowns before use. Following this, 10 gowns were fogged with 12% HP, and then once drying was complete, they were cultured in the predetermined areas for microbial load and morphology/types. This procedure was repeated with another set of 10 gowns fogged with 500 ppm HC. Lastly, 10 gowns were sterilized with EO using standard protocol and cultures were performed similarly. Median CFU (colony-forming unit) counts at 48 h for control, EO, HP, and HC were 4.5, 0, 0, and 0; at 72 h, they were 107, 0, 0, and 0, respectively. No significant difference was noted between the disinfection groups; post hoc pairwise analysis showed that the CFU counts for the disinfection groups were significantly lower than those for the control. The median percent reduction at 48 h for EO, HP, and HC was 100, 100, and 100; at 72 h, it was 100, 100, and 100, respectively. No significant difference was detected among the groups. The median number of microbe types for control, EO, HP, and HC was 2.5, 0, 0, and 0; there was no difference between the disinfection groups, but the number of microbe types was significantly higher for the control than for the disinfection groups. EO is environmentally toxic, expensive, and carcinogenic; it requires prolonged disinfection cycle times, expensive equipment, and trained personnel. This study suggests that HP and HC provide a cost-effective, relatively nontoxic, environmentally safe, and comparatively short disinfection time option for the disinfection and reuse of isolation gowns that does not require trained personnel or specialized equipment.
自2019年以来，每天产生的个人防护装备（PPE）废弃物达160万吨，且此后产量一直未减。在个人防护装备中，隔离衣在垃圾填埋场废弃物重量中占比最大。本研究旨在评估快速、可重复的消毒方案的有效性，以帮助促进安全再利用并将微生物污染风险降至最低。与标准环氧乙烷（EO）灭菌相比，本研究评估了用过氧化氢（HP）和次氯酸（HC）喷雾对隔离衣进行消毒的效果。本研究在美国VCA西海岸专科和急诊动物医院进行。在10个预定区域的胰蛋白胨大豆琼脂接触平板上培养10件隔离衣（对照组），以确定使用前非无菌隔离衣上的微生物负荷及形态/类型。在此之后，对10件隔离衣用12%的HP进行喷雾处理，干燥完成后，在预定区域培养以确定微生物负荷及形态/类型。对另一组10件用500 ppm HC喷雾的隔离衣重复此过程。最后，按照标准方案用EO对10件隔离衣进行灭菌，并进行类似的培养。对照组、EO组、HP组和HC组在48小时时的菌落形成单位（CFU）中位数分别为4.5、0、0和0；在72小时时，分别为107、0、0和0。消毒组之间未发现显著差异；事后两两分析表明，消毒组的CFU计数显著低于对照组。EO组、HP组和HC组在48小时时的中位数减少百分比为100%、100%和100%；在72小时时，分别为100%、100%和100%。各组之间未检测到显著差异。对照组、EO组、HP组和HC组的微生物类型中位数分别为2.5、0、0和0；消毒组之间无差异，但对照组的微生物类型数量显著高于消毒组。环氧乙烷对环境有毒、成本高且具有致癌性；它需要较长的消毒周期、昂贵的设备以及经过培训的人员。本研究表明，过氧化氢和次氯酸为隔离衣的消毒和再利用提供了一种经济高效、相对无毒、环境安全且消毒时间较短的选择，无需经过培训的人员或专门设备。
