Abstract
BackgroundInfection control is a key issue in podiatry as it is in all forms of clinical practice. Airborne contamination may be particularly important in podiatry due to the generation of particulates during treatment. Consequently, technologies that prevent contamination in podiatry settings may have a useful role. The aims of this investigation were twofold, firstly to determine the ability of a UV cabinet to protect instruments from airborne contamination and secondly to determine its ability to remove microbes from contaminated surfaces and instruments.MethodA UV instrument cabinet was installed in a University podiatry suite. Impact samplers and standard microbiological techniques were used to determine the nature and extent of microbial airborne contamination. Sterile filters were used to determine the ability of the UV cabinet to protect exposed surfaces. Artificially contaminated instruments were used to determine the ability of the cabinet to remove microbial contamination.ResultsAirborne bacterial contamination was dominated by Gram positive cocci including Staphylococcus aureus. Airborne fungal levels were much lower than those observed for bacteria. The UV cabinet significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the observed levels of airborne contamination. When challenged with contaminated instruments the cabinet was able to reduce microbial levels by between 60% to 100% with more complex instruments e.g. clippers, remaining contaminated.ConclusionsBacterial airborne contamination is a potential infection risk in podiatry settings due to the presence of S. aureus. The use of a UV instrument cabinet can reduce the risk of contamination by airborne microbes. The UV cabinet tested was unable to decontaminate instruments and as such could pose an infection risk if misused.
Highlights
Infection control is a key issue in podiatry as it is in all forms of clinical practice [1,2]
Over the consultation times sampled there was no correlation between the duration of consultation and the level of airborne bacterial contamination detected on the filters exposed on the standard instrument cabinets (Figure 5)
Comparison between the level of contamination detected on the filters exposed in the UV cabinet (n = 18, x = 0.11, SE ± 0.08) and those exposed in the instrument cabinet (n = 18, x =7.1, SE ± 1.3) indicated that the level of contamination resulting from exposure in the UV cabinet was significantly lower than that resulting from exposure in the standard instrument cabinet (p < 0.05)
Summary
Infection control is a key issue in podiatry as it is in all forms of clinical practice [1,2]. Infection control studies focussed on podiatry practices have demonstrated the importance of effective disinfection [3,4,5] and laundry processes [6,7] in the reduction of environmental microbial contamination. This is important since environmental contamination is recognised as a source of healthcare associated infections (HAI) [8,9] and a number of bacterial pathogens have significant survival times on inanimate surfaces [10]. The aims of this investigation were twofold, firstly to determine the ability of a UV cabinet to protect instruments from airborne contamination and secondly to determine its ability to remove microbes from contaminated surfaces and instruments
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