Major ArticleActivity of selected oxidizing microbicides against the spores of Clostridium difficile: Relevance to environmental control
Section snippets
Test organisms
The C difficile tested was a local clinical isolate from a child and was designated as CHEO. Because the spores of Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 19659) and Clostridium sporogenes (ATCC 7955) are widely used in assessing the sporicidal potential of disinfectants,17 they were included in this investigation to compare their susceptibility to that of the spores of C difficile. The bacteria were stored at −80°C in appropriate media (see below), plus 10% glycerol.
Sporulation media and culture conditions
The spores of C difficile were prepared by
Results
The numbers of viable spores on the control carriers are summarized in Table 1. Although their titers varied by approximately 1 log10 among experiments, the minimum was always >6 log10. Each value shown is the average of at least 2 repetitions. The values for the viable spores recovered from the test carriers in a given experiment were compared with the control values normalized to 100%; data were expressed as percentage reductions.
However, for infection control purposes, it is important to
Discussion
Although the role of environmental surfaces in the transmission of nosocomial infections is not always recognized, it seems to be supported for CDAD spread.5, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23 Nothing has been published regarding the survival of C difficile spores on inert surfaces after treatment with disinfectants; nevertheless, there are anecdotal as well as published reports10, 24, 25, 26 of a decrease in the transmission of CDAD when oxidative disinfectants such as bleach or AHP are used instead
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