Feasibility of routinely using hydrogen peroxide vapor to decontaminate rooms in a busy United States hospital

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2009 Jun;30(6):574-7. doi: 10.1086/597544.

Abstract

During a 22-month period at a 500-bed teaching hospital, 1,565 rooms that had housed patients infected with multidrug-resistant pathogens were decontaminated using hydrogen peroxide vapor. Hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination required a mean time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, compared with 32 minutes for conventional cleaning. Despite the greater time required for decontamination, hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination of selected patient rooms is feasible in a busy hospital with a mean occupancy rate of 94%.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Clostridioides difficile / drug effects
  • Connecticut
  • Decontamination / methods*
  • Disinfection / methods
  • Enterococcus / drug effects
  • Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / microbiology
  • Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / prevention & control*
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / microbiology
  • Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / prevention & control*
  • Hospitals, Teaching*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Peroxide / administration & dosage*
  • Infection Control / methods*
  • Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / drug effects
  • Patients' Rooms*
  • Time Factors
  • Vancomycin Resistance
  • Volatilization

Substances

  • Hydrogen Peroxide