There is growing evidence to support the efficacy of disinfection with chlorine dioxide in the fight against healthcare-associated infections. One trust has achieved significant reductions in MRSA rates, resulting in major cost savings by implementing this disinfecting agent in its environmental cleaning process. Suzanne Callander and Louise Frampton report.
There is a great deal of evidence to show that antibiotic-resistant microorganisms are able
to survive in the hospital environment. These organisms can infect patients and contribute
to increased mortality, morbidity and increased length of hospital stay for patients. Surfaces in hospitals can become contaminated with a range of organisms associated with healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). Staphylococcus aureus, for example, is an organism adapted to living on the skin. Contaminated skin cells of a methicillin-resistant S. aureus-colonised patient can be shed easily into the environment and land on surfaces to be redistributed and spread infection. To compound the problem, MRSA can survive for up to seven months on environmental surfaces.
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