DESCRITORES Esterilização Infecção hospitalar Equipamentos cirúrgicos Saúde pública KEYWORDS Sterilization Cross infection Surgical Equipment Public HealthJustifi cativa e Objetivos: Os instrumentos cirúrgicos são amplamente reprocessados, principalmente em países em desenvolvimento, onde os custos da utilização desses insumos são altos. A literatura científi ca aponta a ausência de processos validados de limpeza e esterilização. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar por meio de uma revisão bibliográfi ca evidências que apoiem ou não a prática do reprocessamento e reutilização de instrumentos médico-hospitalares, a princípio de uso único. Método:Foram selecionados 27 artigos em revistas indexadas nas bases de dados LILACS, Pubmed e Medline, e pesquisas no Science Direct publicados sob os unitermos "esterilização", "artigos de uso único", "infecção hospitalar" e "aparelhos cirúrgicos" nos idiomas inglês e português. Foram excluídos os artigos que não contemplavam a temática do estudo. Resultados: Verifi cou-se grande variedade dos instrumentos estudados e formas de reprocessamento. A maioria dos artigos evidencia uma inefi cácia da esterilização, identifi cando microrganismos ao fi nal do processo. Conclusão: Baseado no conhecimento atual é importante considerar cada caso validando protocolos de reprocessamento e reuso dos materiais cirúrgicos com base em conhecimento científi co. A partir da análise dos artigos em estudo, conclui-se que essa prática não pode ser realizada indiscriminadamente. Backgound and Objectives:Surgical instruments are widely reprocessed, mainly in developing countries, where the cost of using these materials is high. Scientifi c literature indicates the absence of validated cleaning and sterilization processes. The study aimed at evaluating, through a literature review, the evidence to support or not the practice of reprocessing and reuse of originally single-use, medical-hospital materials. Methods: A total of 27 articles in English and Portuguese were selected from journals indexed in the LILACS, Pubmed and Medline databases, as well as studies published in ScienceDirect website using the following key words: sterilization, single-use articles, hospital infection and surgical instruments. Articles that did not fi t the study subject were excluded. Results: There was a great variety of studied instruments and reprocessing methods. Most articles emphasize the sterilization ineffectiveness, identifying microorganisms at the end of the process. Conclusion: Based on the current knowledge, it is important to consider each case validating surgical materials reprocessing and reuse protocols based on scientifi c knowledge. Based on the analysis of the study articles, we concluded that this practice cannot be performed indiscriminately.

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Compliance with preventive behaviors recommended by public health officials plays a critical role in the control and prevention of COVID-19. Data were collected from those living in The Villages, FL, and surrounding communities via The Villages Health COVID-19 Rapid Testing Program in partnership with The UFHealth Precision Health Research Center. A descriptive ecological study was conducted to model COVID-19 positivity result variations by age, sex and adherence to CDC safety recommendations using chi-square tests. 9,993 tests were performed using Abbott's BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card, and 931 (9.30%) positive cases were confirmed between 10/19/2020-2/26/2021. Median age was 69 years (range:12-103), and 5,578 (55.8%) individuals were female. No significant differences were found in positive test status (≥65=9.8%,<65=8.8%) amongst those over 65 (n=6567) and under 65 (n=3180) years old [X2 (1, N=9847)=2.49,p=.114]; however, positive test result differed by sex with males (10.6%) testing positive at higher rates than females [8.3%, X2(1, N =9993)=14.888, p< .001)]. A significant relationship between preventative behaviors and positive test status was also found. Not engaging in regular handwashing (p< .001) and failing to stay 6 feet or more away from others outdoors (p< .001) was significantly associated with positive test status. Further, not wearing a face mask in businesses/shops (p<.001) or indoors around 6+ people, (p<.001) was significantly associated with positive test status. In light of debate around the efficacy of mask wearing, these findings signal the importance of following CDC recommended public health behaviors for all ages across the lifespan to reduce the spread of COVID-19 infection.