Sep 19 2012
Healthcare associated infections (also referred to as HAIs
or hospital acquired infections) are the fourth leading cause of death
in the United States, costing more than $30 billion each year. Evidence
continues to mount that hospital cleanliness plays a role in the spread
of HAIs, which are caused by deadly pathogens such as C. diff,
MRSA, VRE and Acinetobacter. Hospital cleaning teams are not able
to disinfect all the surfaces in patient rooms in the allotted time,
with research showing that more than half of the surfaces remain
untouched. Additionally, deadly "superbugs" such as C. diff are
showing resistance to cleaning fluids, making them even more difficult
to remove and eliminate.
Xenex
Healthcare Services recently participated in a study conducted at
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to evaluate the
efficacy of its pulsed
xenon UV light disinfection system versus bleach in a hospital
setting. Shashank Ghantoji, M.D., M.P.H., a postdoctoral fellow,
presented the poster, "Comparison of Pulsed Xenon UV to Bleach for the
Decontamination of C. difficile from Surfaces in the Patient
Environment" at the recent ICAAC conference in San Francisco. Sponsored
by the American Society for Microbiology, ICAAC showcases the
latest-breaking science and lectures from top researchers from around
the world.
"The study showed a 95 percent reduction in C. diff when the
rooms were cleaned with the device(s)," said Roy
F. Chemaly, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor in MD Anderson's Department
of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health.
In many hospitals, Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a
primary pathogen of concern. Many patients, especially those on
antibiotics, are susceptible to C. diff, which can live for up to
five months on surfaces in the hospital. A person with C. diff
contaminates his or her hospital room and bathroom, leaving C. diff
spores on the walls, handles and other high-touch surfaces.
"The results presented in this study are exciting - and consistent with
what we've seen from our customers around the U.S., some of whom have
seen drops in C. diff rates after using our pulsed xenon
technology," said Dr. Mark
Stibich, Chief Scientific Officer for Xenex. "Being able to
demonstrate that our device gets a room cleaner than bleach is a
milestone for Xenex - especially as hospitals are looking for
environmentally friendly ways to get their patient environments clean."
The current standard for C. diff surface decontamination in the
healthcare setting is a bleach solution, which may damage hospital
materials and create a toxic environment for hospital workers. Xenex
Healthcare Services' pulsed xenon UV (PX-UV) light room disinfection
system has been repeatedly proven effective against C. diff in
the laboratory and in patient outcome results at hospitals utilizing
Xenex devices. The purpose of this study was to determine if Xenex's
pulsed xenon UV light technology is equivalent to bleach for the
decontamination of surfaces in C. diff isolation rooms at
discharge.
High-touch surfaces in rooms previously occupied by C. diff-infected
patients were sampled after discharge but before and after cleaning
using bleach or non-bleach cleaning followed by 15 minutes of PX-UV
treatment. A total of 298 samples were collected using a moistened wipe
specifically designed for the removal of spores and the numbers of
colony forming units (CFU) of C. diff before and after each
decontamination method were compared. Recovered C. diff decreased
70 percent after the use of bleach while recovered C. diff
decreased a dramatic 95 percent after the use of PX-UV. In short, rooms
treated with Xenex PX-UV had six times fewer CFU of C. diff
recovered than the rooms treated with bleach.
Source: Xenex Healthcare Services
Doctor tripped up by $64K bill for ankle surgery and hospital stay