A trial of pulsed xenon ultraviolet disinfection to reduce Clostridioides difficile infection

Abstract

An intervention was designed to test whether the addition of an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection step after terminal cleaning would be helpful in reducing Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates in a real-world situation. This study was a quasi-experimental design using 3 units as intervention units for the intervention and 3 similar units as control units. Intervention units 2 hematology and bone marrow transplant units and one medical-surgical unit at a large teaching hospital in the Midwest. UV disinfection was added after patient discharge and terminal cleaning in the intervention units. At baseline, CDI rates in the intervention and control arms were similar. During the 6 months of UV disinfection, the CDI rate in the intervention units decreased to 11.2 per 10,000 patient days, compared with 28.7 per 10,000 patient days in the control units (P = .03). In addition, the intervention units also saw a reduction in vancomycin-resistant enterococci acquisition. The addition of UV disinfection to the terminal cleaning resulted in a reduction in CDI that has been sustained over several months 2 years.