New research published in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) has shown that aerosolized hydrogen peroxide can reduce the incidence of C. Diff infections (CDIs). CDIs are a common infection in healthcare facilities, and they can also cause fatalities in healthcare facilities around the world.
According to the US CDC, CDIs are responsible for approximately 223,000 deaths annually and cost the US US$6.3 billion. CDI spores resist most hand sanitizers and most disinfectants. Therefore, hospitals must have better hand hygiene protocols and clean environments to prevent CDI disease and infection. However, despite the consistent implementation of these steps, it cannot be easy to eliminate the pathogen from hospital surfaces.
Researchers analyzed CDI rates from a Philadelphia acute-care facility over ten years to assess the effectiveness of touchless aerosolized hydrogen-peroxide disinfection systems. The systems emit an aerosolized dry mist fog that contains hydrogen peroxide. However, after physical cleaning, CDI spores may remain. Therefore, researchers compared CDI frequency in the facility before implementing the aerosolized hydrogen peroxide system with the rate after implementation with the following results.
The facility had 120 CDI cases in 27 months before implementing the aerosolized hydrogen peroxide system. However, it reported 72 cases of CDI after implementation. This represents a 41% decrease in infection rates. In addition, researchers saw a 74% reduction in hospital-onset CDIs after using the aerosolized hydrogen peroxide system. The study found that persistent use of an aerosolized hydrogen peroxide solution significantly decreased CDI. The report concluded that adding a touchless PHP whole-room disinfection system to terminal cleaning could result in significant reductions in CDI rates, which can be sustained year after year.