Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases
When transferring highly infective patients to specialist hospitals, safe systems of work minimise the risk to healthcare staff. The EpiShuttle is a patient transport system that was developed to fit into an air ambulance. A validated decontamination procedure is required before the system can be ad...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/12/2575 |
| _version_ | 1797502346454892544 |
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| author | Claire Bailey Catherine Makison-Booth Jayne Farrant Alan Beswick John Chewins Michael Eimstad Fridtjof Heyerdahl Brian Crook |
| author_facet | Claire Bailey Catherine Makison-Booth Jayne Farrant Alan Beswick John Chewins Michael Eimstad Fridtjof Heyerdahl Brian Crook |
| author_sort | Claire Bailey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When transferring highly infective patients to specialist hospitals, safe systems of work minimise the risk to healthcare staff. The EpiShuttle is a patient transport system that was developed to fit into an air ambulance. A validated decontamination procedure is required before the system can be adopted in the UK. Hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) vapour fumigation may offer better penetration of the inaccessible parts than the liquid disinfectant wiping that is currently suggested. To validate this, an EpiShuttle was fumigated in a sealed test chamber. Commercial bacterial spore indicators (BIs), alongside organic liquid suspensions and dried surface samples of MS2 bacteriophage (a safe virus surrogate), were placed in and around the EpiShuttle, for the purpose of evaluation. The complete kill of all of the BIs in the five test runs demonstrated the efficacy of the fumigation cycle. The log reduction of the MS2 that was dried on the coupons ranged from 2.66 to 4.50, but the log reduction of the MS2 that was in the organic liquids only ranged from 0.07 to 1.90, confirming the results of previous work. Fumigation with H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> alone may offer insufficient inactivation of viruses in liquid droplets, therefore a combination of fumigation and disinfectant surface wiping was proposed. Initial fumigation reducing contamination with minimal intervention allows disinfectant wipe cleaning to be completed more safely, with a second fumigation step inactivating the residual pathogens. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:31:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e0b14364548843479ab47fb8ec293593 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:31:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-e0b14364548843479ab47fb8ec2935932023-11-23T09:40:03ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072021-12-01912257510.3390/microorganisms9122575Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious DiseasesClaire Bailey0Catherine Makison-Booth1Jayne Farrant2Alan Beswick3John Chewins4Michael Eimstad5Fridtjof Heyerdahl6Brian Crook7Health and Safety Executive Science Research Centre, Buxton SK17 9JN, UKHealth and Safety Executive Science Research Centre, Buxton SK17 9JN, UKHealth and Safety Executive Science Research Centre, Buxton SK17 9JN, UKHealth and Safety Executive Science Research Centre, Buxton SK17 9JN, UKBioquell Ltd., Andover SP10 3TS, UKEpiGuard, 1634 Gamle Fredrikstad, NorwayEpiGuard, 1634 Gamle Fredrikstad, NorwayHealth and Safety Executive Science Research Centre, Buxton SK17 9JN, UKWhen transferring highly infective patients to specialist hospitals, safe systems of work minimise the risk to healthcare staff. The EpiShuttle is a patient transport system that was developed to fit into an air ambulance. A validated decontamination procedure is required before the system can be adopted in the UK. Hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) vapour fumigation may offer better penetration of the inaccessible parts than the liquid disinfectant wiping that is currently suggested. To validate this, an EpiShuttle was fumigated in a sealed test chamber. Commercial bacterial spore indicators (BIs), alongside organic liquid suspensions and dried surface samples of MS2 bacteriophage (a safe virus surrogate), were placed in and around the EpiShuttle, for the purpose of evaluation. The complete kill of all of the BIs in the five test runs demonstrated the efficacy of the fumigation cycle. The log reduction of the MS2 that was dried on the coupons ranged from 2.66 to 4.50, but the log reduction of the MS2 that was in the organic liquids only ranged from 0.07 to 1.90, confirming the results of previous work. Fumigation with H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> alone may offer insufficient inactivation of viruses in liquid droplets, therefore a combination of fumigation and disinfectant surface wiping was proposed. Initial fumigation reducing contamination with minimal intervention allows disinfectant wipe cleaning to be completed more safely, with a second fumigation step inactivating the residual pathogens.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/12/2575infectionhospitalpatient transportdecontaminationhydrogen peroxidevalidation |
| spellingShingle | Claire Bailey Catherine Makison-Booth Jayne Farrant Alan Beswick John Chewins Michael Eimstad Fridtjof Heyerdahl Brian Crook Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases Microorganisms infection hospital patient transport decontamination hydrogen peroxide validation |
| title | Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases |
| title_full | Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases |
| title_fullStr | Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases |
| title_short | Validation of the Decontamination of a Specialist Transport System for Patients with High Consequence Infectious Diseases |
| title_sort | validation of the decontamination of a specialist transport system for patients with high consequence infectious diseases |
| topic | infection hospital patient transport decontamination hydrogen peroxide validation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/12/2575 |
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