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A study by Canadian researchers has investigated Clostridium difficile (C difficile) infection in hospital toilets using an ultraviolet (UV) lotion.
The report, published online today in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, used an ultraviolet visible marker (UVM) to assess compliance in cleaning practice in a tertiary healthcare establishment.
Cleaning was visually scored using a system whereby the figures 0, 1, 2 and 3 represented no, light, moderate or heavy residual UVM respectively.
The UVM was applied to the toilets of patients both in isolation due to C difficile-associated diarrhoea precautions (CDAD) and those who were not on isolation precautions.
The researchers found that even with twice daily cleaning for the former set of toilets, the average cleaning score was 1.23, whereas the average score for the latter was 0.9.
In cases of optimal cleaning (UVM score of 0), the “superbug” was detected on 33% of samples for the CDAD group, with 4% detection in toilet samples from the non-CDAD group.
The researchers called for the use of ultraviolet-visible monitoring systems and stronger cleaning agents to tackle the problem of C difficile.
View the article in full at BMC Infectious Diseases
