Patients with C. diff and MRSA are often limited to isolation rooms, the pathogens that cause them are not
In a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control, 24 percent of non-isolation rooms tested positive for C. diff spores and 10 percent tested positive for MRSA after standard cleaning with a quaternary ammonium disinfectant, but routine use of a novel sporicidal disinfectant significantly reduced contamination.
Researchers from the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center compared the frequency of environmental contamination in standard patient rooms that had not been used to treat patients with C. diff infection (CDI), for three-week periods before and after switching cleaning protocols from a quaternary ammonium disinfectant to Clorox Healthcare Fuzion Cleaner Disinfectant, a novel form of bleach that kills C. diff spores in two minutes, has a low odor profile and is safe to use on a wide variety of surfaces.
Prior to May 1, 2018, environmental services professional at the 215-bed acute care facility used commercial bleach wipes for daily and post-discharge cleaning of CDI rooms and a quaternary ammonium disinfectant for non-CDI rooms. After May 1, 2018, EVS personnel used Fuzion for post discharge cleaning and disinfection of all CDI and non-CDI rooms.
During the baseline period when a non-sporicidal quaternary ammonium disinfectant was used, 51 non-CDI rooms were cultured after post-discharge cleaning and 24 percent tested positive for C. diff spores, while 10 percent tested positive for MRSA. During the intervention period, when Fuzion was used for all post-discharge room disinfection, environmental surfaces in 39 non-CDI rooms were cultured. During this period, the research team reported a significant reduction in recovery of C. diff after cleaning and a trend toward reduced MRSA contamination.
According to the researchers, these results suggest that routine use of a sporicidal disinfectant in all post-discharge rooms could potentially be beneficial in reducing the risk for C. diff transmission from contaminated surfaces.
