EFFICACY OF DISINFECTION ON VARIOUS SURFACES

Abstract

Introduction:Various workers have demonstrated that environmental surfaces near patients in health care settings are full of contamination. However, despite extensive search on the internet studies on efcacy of disinfection on various surfaces were conspicuous by their scarcity. Methodology:Randomly selected sites measuring one sq inch in size were marked on various surfaces in a presumably Non Covid19 health care facility. A total of twenty four samples were taken as against the minimum required of twenty. The surfaces were subsequently disinfected using 70% alcohol based disinfecting wipes which were procured locally. All samples were suitably labelled to avoid any mixing of samples. The samples were plated on blood agar media and Mc Conkey's media and incubated at 370C for 3 days. The mean levels of contamination on various surfaces before and after disinfection were analysed and compared for log10 reduction using appropriate statistical tests. Results:The difference in mean level of contamination across the various surfaces before disinfection was statistically very highly signicant at 5% level of signicance. (F = 6980453.16, p = 0.00). The difference in mean level of contamination across the various surfaces after disinfection was statistically not signicant at 5% level of signicance. (F = 3.14, p = 0.08). This study demonstrates that 70% alcohol based disinfecting wipes which are easily available locally are equally effective in reducing microbiological contamination on various surfaces.Conclusions:In our study, the workers have conrmed that use of 70% alcohol based disinfecting wipes which are commercially available can signicantly reduce the microbiological plate count from various commonly touched surfaces in a health care setting.