UV Light Blasts ‘Bad Bugs’

Abstract

San Diego – A portable device that emits UV-C light destroyed vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Acinetobacter, and Clostridium difficile from rooms where infected patients had been housed.“Our study further strengthens the data that no-touch systems like UV-C light … can potentially help with current cleaning strategies,” lead investigator Dr. Anderson said in an interview prior to IDWeek 2012, where the research was presented during a poster session.While several groups have demonstrated that UV-C light works in experimental conditions, the new study demonstrates that it works against “bad bugs” in the real world, said Dr. Anderson of the department of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University, Durham, N.C.He and his associates analyzed 39 rooms at two hospitals. Each room had just housed a patient with one of the three dangerous bugs. After a patient was discharged but before regular cleaning, the investigators obtained 15 or more cultures from several locations in each room, wheeled in an automated mobile UV-C disinfection machine, irradiated the room up to 45 minutes, and then repeated the cultures. Direct and indirect UV-C irradiation reduced colony-forming units of vancomycin-resistant enterococci by 98%, C. difficile by 93%, and Acinetobacter by 98%.Device maker Lumalier donated the machines used in the study, listed online at $199,900 by a distributor, but had no role in the trial design or in review of the data. San Diego – A portable device that emits UV-C light destroyed vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Acinetobacter, and Clostridium difficile from rooms where infected patients had been housed. “Our study further strengthens the data that no-touch systems like UV-C light … can potentially help with current cleaning strategies,” lead investigator Dr. Anderson said in an interview prior to IDWeek 2012, where the research was presented during a poster session. While several groups have demonstrated that UV-C light works in experimental conditions, the new study demonstrates that it works against “bad bugs” in the real world, said Dr. Anderson of the department of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University, Durham, N.C. He and his associates analyzed 39 rooms at two hospitals. Each room had just housed a patient with one of the three dangerous bugs. After a patient was discharged but before regular cleaning, the investigators obtained 15 or more cultures from several locations in each room, wheeled in an automated mobile UV-C disinfection machine, irradiated the room up to 45 minutes, and then repeated the cultures. Direct and indirect UV-C irradiation reduced colony-forming units of vancomycin-resistant enterococci by 98%, C. difficile by 93%, and Acinetobacter by 98%. Device maker Lumalier donated the machines used in the study, listed online at $199,900 by a distributor, but had no role in the trial design or in review of the data.