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Foam disinfectant keeps sink drains bacteria-free for 3 days
A foam disinfectant suppressed sink-drain colonization with gram-negative bacteria for at least 3 days, according to researchers, who suggested that intermittent application of the foam may potentially reduce pathogen colonization and dissemination.
“There is a lot of interest in finding effective methods to decontaminate sink drains,” Curtis J. Donskey, MD, professor of medicine at Case Western University and staff infectious disease physician at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, told Healio.
“One common practice is to pour liquid disinfectants down the drain,” Donskey said. “This approach does not work well because the disinfectants flow rapidly down the drain, providing inadequate contact time and poor penetration into many of the areas with microorganisms.
A long contact time is helpful because the bacteria in drains are typically growing within a thick biofilm or sludge layer that isn’t amenable to brushing or other methods of mechanical removal.”
Previously, Donskey and colleagues demonstrated that instilling liquid disinfectant into sink drains for an hour suppressed bacterial colonization for days, although another group reported that foam disinfectant may be more effective, he said.
To test this, and expand on prior studies, Donskey and colleagues tried different methods for disinfecting sink drains in patient rooms over the course of 5 months. They compared the efficacy of a single treatment of four different foam products to reduce gram-negative bacilli in drains.
Results of the study showed that a foam product containing 3.13% hydrogen peroxide and 0.05% peracetic acid was more effective than the other three products tested. The researchers found that using the foam resulted in “significantly reduced” recovery of gram-negative bacilli on days 1, 2 and 3, returning to baseline by day 7.
“Intermittent application of foam disinfectants can suppress sink drain colonization and might reduce dissemination of pathogens from sink drains,” Donskey concluded.
The hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid disinfectant is commercially available as a liquid (Virasept, EcoLab) and can be easily converted to a foam using a foaming device, which typically costs around $100, according to Donskey. He said there are several different types of commercial foaming devices that are reasonably priced. The one used in the study cost about $60. – by Caitlyn Stulpin
Disclosures: Donskey reports receiving research grants from Boehringer Laboratories, Clorox, GOJO, Merck, PDI and Pfizer. All other authors report no relevant financial disclosures.