Effectiveness of dry hydrogen peroxide in reducing air and surface bioburden in a multicenter clinical setting.

Abstract

To determine the effectiveness of dry hydrogen peroxide (DHP) in reducing environmental bioburden in occupied areas. Prospective environmental cohort study. The study was conducted in 2 tertiary-care hospitals and 1 free-standing emergency department. Environmental air and surface sites were cultured before and after continuous deployment of DHP systems in targeted hospital areas. In total, 1,554 surface and 1,036 air samples were collected from 74 patient areas among the 3 facilities on 3 consecutive days before DHP deployment and on days 14, 30, 60, and 90 after deployment. At each sampling time, 2 air samples were collected at each facility from 1 room without DHP, along with 2 outdoor samples from each facility. The impact of negative-pressure usage on the efficacy of DHP was also evaluated, with 1 hospital continuously using negative pressure, another utilizing it only in patient isolation scenarios, and another without negative pressure. In the 2 facilities without continuous negative pressure, exposure to DHP was associated with a significant reduction in surface bioburden, characterized as total colony-forming units (P = .019; P = .002). Significant associations between DHP exposure and reductions in airborne bacterial load at the 2 hospitals were observed (P ≤ .001; P = .041), and the free-standing emergency department experienced a reduction that did not achieve statistical significance (P = .073). Our findings confirm that DHP has the potential to reduce microbial air and surface bioburden in occupied patient rooms with standard ventilation parameters.