Modern Technical Solutions for Cleaning, Disinfection and Sterilization

Disinfection and Sterilization

Disinfection and sterilization: an overview.

All invasive procedures involve contact by a medical device or surgical instrument with a patient's sterile tissue or mucous membranes. The level of disinfection or sterilization is dependent on the intended use of the object: critical (items that contact sterile tissue such as surgical instruments), semicritical (items that contact mucous membrane such as endoscopes), and noncritical (devices ...

New disinfection and sterilization methods.

New disinfection methods include a persistent antimicrobial coating that can be applied to inanimate and animate objects (Surfacine), a high-level disinfectant with reduced exposure time (ortho-phthalaldehyde), and an antimicrobial agent that can be applied to animate and inanimate objects (superoxidized water). New sterilization methods include a chemical sterilization process for endoscopes t...

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: recommendations for disinfection and sterilization.

Prion diseases constitute a unique infection control problem because prions exhibit unusual resistance to conventional chemical and physical decontamination methods. Recommendations to prevent cross-transmission of infection from medical devices contaminated by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) have been based primarily on prion inactivation studies. The recommendations in this article consider i...

Cleaning and disinfection of hospital floors.

Hospital floors become contaminated by settlement of airborne bacteria, by contact with shoes, trolley wheels, and other solid objects, and occasionally by the spilling of urine, pus, sputum, and other fluids. Pathogens commonly present on the floor include Staphylococcus aureus dispersed by patients and staff, and (in much smaller numbers) Gram-negative rods, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Sp...