Abstract
Mercury vapor sourced ultraviolet light has been used for several years to disinfect connections that are integral to peritoneal dialysis solution delivery systems. This in vitro study evaluated the suitability of xenon flash sourced ultraviolet light as an effective alternative disinfecting agent. Candida albicans was determined to be at least four times more resistant than Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mitis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to ultraviolet radiation generated by both mercury vapor and xenon flash devices. Both ultraviolet devices effectively disinfected transfer set spikes that were inoculated intraluminally with each of these five test microorganisms suspended in a pool of patient dialysis effluent. However, ultraviolet (254 nm) absorbance values of dialysis effluent was found to vary greatly between patients, with the most ultraviolet-opaque effluent significantly reducing the microbicidal effectiveness of the mercury vapor, but not the xenon flash system.
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