Automated UV-C Device Reduces Pathogens in Contaminated Rooms

An automated ultraviolet light (UV)-C device significantly reduced nosocomial pathogens in hospital rooms. UV-C is a shortwave UV that includes germicidal ultraviolet--200 nm - 320 nm wavelengths--used for air, surface, and water disinfection.

A hospital study evaluated the ability of Lumalier's (Memphis, TN, USA) automated UV device, Tru-D, to decontaminate patient rooms infected with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile, and a multidrug resistant (MDR) strain of Acinetobacter baumannii.

Evaluation of the device took place at the University of North Carolina Health Care (Chapel Hill, NC, USA from January 21 through September 21, 2009. During phase 1 trial, MRSA, VRE, A. baumannii, and C. difficile samples were placed behind objects and within line-of-sight of the UV-C device. UV-C reduced vegetative bacteria counts by more than 99.9% within 15 minutes. C. difficile spore reduction was 99.8% within 50 minutes.

For phase 2, isolation rooms for MRSA or VRE- infected patients were sampled. After 15 minutes of UV-C exposure, there was a significant decrease in total colony forming units (CFUs) (384 vs. 19), in positive MRSA samples (81 vs. 2), and in MRSA counts per plate (37 vs. 2). Similar reductions were recorded for VRE.

In previous studies using manual disinfection, patients hospitalized in rooms previously occupied by infected individuals experienced a significantly higher rate of acquiring infectious organisms from environmental surfaces. Trials using fluorescent markers revealed that only 48% of environmental surfaces are actually disinfected during terminal cleaning.

The hospital study of the TruD demonstrated that the environment-friendly UV-C device is effective in significantly reducing pathogens on all environmental surfaces, both line-of sight and shadowed. The study was published in the October 2010 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

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University of North Carolina Health Care