Three swipes and you're out: how many swipes are needed to decontaminate plastic with disposable wipes?

Andrea E Berendt; LeeAnn Turnbull; Donald Spady; Robert Rennie; Sarah E Forgie

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2010.08.014

Three swipes and you're out: how many swipes are needed to decontaminate plastic with disposable wipes?

Am J Infect Control. 2011 Jun;39(5):442-443. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2010.08.014. Epub 2011 Feb 9.

Authors

Andrea E Berendt¹, LeeAnn Turnbull², Donald Spady³, Robert Rennie², Sarah E Forgie⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
² Medical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta Hospitals, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 21306797
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2010.08.014

Abstract

At our hospital, health care workers use commercially available wipes to reduce bacterial counts on plastic surfaces. The workers use the wipes in a cursory fashion--swiping objects once for one to two seconds. We sought to measure the ability of wipes to reduce bacterial counts when swiped across plastic surfaces using various routines.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Bacterial Load / drug effects*
Decontamination / methods*
Disinfectants / pharmacology*
Equipment Contamination / prevention & control*
Fomites
Pilot Projects
Plastics*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Disinfectants
Plastics