Is Peracetic Acid Fumigation Effective in Public Transportation?

Ewelina Kruszewska,Sławomir Pancewicz,Anna Moniuszko-Malinowska,Anna Bukłaha,Diana Martonik,Piotr Czupryna

doi:10.3390/ijerph19052526

Ewelina Kruszewska, Sławomir Pancewicz + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052526

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic made more people aware of the danger of viruses and bacteria, which is why disinfection began to be used more and more often. Epidemiological safety must be ensured not only in gathering places, but also in home and work environments. It is especially challenging in public transportation, which is a perfect environment for the spread of infectious disease. Therefore, the aim of the study was the identification of bacteria in crowded places and the evaluation of the effect of fumigation with peracetic acid (PAA) in public transportation. Inactivation of microorganisms in buses and long-distance coaches was carried out using an automatic commercial fogging device filled with a solution of peracetic acid stabilized with acetic acid (AA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Before and after disinfection, samples were taken for microbiological tests. The most prevalent bacteria were Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus licheniformis. Staphylococcus epidermidis was only present in buses, whereas Staphylococcus hominis and Exiguobacterium acetylicum were only present in coaches. Statistical analysis showed a significant reduction in the number of microorganisms in samples taken from different surfaces after disinfection in vehicles. The overall effectiveness of disinfection was 81.7% in buses and 66.5% in coaches. Dry fog fumigation with peracetic acid is an effective method of disinfecting public transport vehicles.

Highlights

In times of the global COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene of closed rooms in which we are staying is a significant problem
We have examined the use of peracetic acid in schools and kindergartens, where the high effectiveness of this type of disinfection in educational institutions has been proven [35]
In contrast to the outcome of the research led by Grand et al, we found that glass is decontaminated by peracetic acid our findings are consistent with those of Portner and Hoffmann

Summary

Introduction

In times of the global COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene of closed rooms in which we are staying is a significant problem. The pandemic made more people aware of the danger of viruses and bacteria, various countries have introduced non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as the increasing use of disinfection, wearing masks and social distancing [1,2]. In the United States, Chang et al compared the number of disinfectant poisoning exposures reported during the pandemic and during the same pre-pandemic period. They showed an overall increase of such notifications by 20.4% compared to 2019 and by 16.4% over the same period in 2018 [3]. Epidemiological safety must be ensured in gathering places, and in home and work environments

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