Elimination of biofilm and microbial contamination reservoirs in hospital washbasin U-bends by automated cleaning and disinfection with electrochemically activated solutions

Abstract

Automated ECA treatment of washbasin U-bends consistently minimizes microbial contamination.

Minimizing microbial contamination risk simultaneously from multiple hospital washbasins by automated cleaning and disinfection of U-bends with electrochemically activated solutions

“…Anolyte and catholyte solutions were produced by electrochemical activation of an NaCl solution using a Qlean-Genie UL-75a ECA generator (Qlean Tech Enterprises, Mendota Heights, MI, USA) [8]. The generator was configured to produce anolyte measured at 800 parts per million (ppm) free available chlorine (FAC) at pH 7.0, having an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of þ880 mV and consisting of approximately 632 ppm hypochlorous acid (79%) and 162 ppm OCl À (20.2%).…”

“…This water may stagnate for considerable periods, encouraging the development of biofilms. These can spread as far as the washbasin drain, contaminating the washbasin and surrounding area [8,9]. U-bend biofilms are usually heterogenous communities consisting of a range of opportunistic bacterial pathogens, including Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp., Klebsiella spp.…”

“…The negatively charged antioxidant solution (catholyte) has detergent-like properties consisting predominantly of NaOH. Recently, the authors described the development of a programmable automated prototype system for minimizing microbial contamination of a domestic pattern washbasin U-bend by treating the system sequentially with catholyte to reduce organic material followed by disinfection with anolyte [8]. Average bacterial counts from the treated U-bend over 35 decontamination cycles on a variety of culture media showed a >4 log reduction relative to controls.…”

Electroosmotically generated disinfectant from urine as a by-product of electricity in microbial fuel cell for the inactivation of pathogenic species

“…The catholyte, which was made up of mainly NaOH, was found to be efficient in the suppression of the growth of E coli. Investigation by Swan et al 31 on the possibility of the use of catholyte (mainly NaOH) as a disinfectant to eradicate biofilm in hospital washbasin U-bend showed its efficacy. The results of their study showed that the catholyte was effective in eradicating bacteria biofilm present in the washbasin including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. putida, Staphylococcus warneri, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Sphingomonas paucimobilis.…”

Medical devices for cystic fibrosis care may be portable reservoirs of potential pathogens

“…PEP devices are ubiquitous in hospital CF care. Therefore, although there have been reports of successful elimination of biofilm and microbial contamination reservoirs in other hospital sites such as washbasin U-bends 8 , vigilance regarding portable pulmonary devices may help in preventing outbreaks such as that caused by S. maltophilia forming a biofilm in the flexible plastic tube attached to a carbon filter for potable water in an ICU kitchen 9 .…”