Monday, May 4, 2015

The unit was sprayed with hydrogen peroxide vapor after a VRE outbreak


Hospitals call on us to help them. Why not call on us to help you with your living or work space.

A hospital spokeswoman said: “Over the weekend the area underwent full bio-decontamination using the latest technology, tested and approved by the rapid review panel for NHS technology.”
The unit was sprayed with hydrogen peroxide vapour which created a fog that covered the whole area, killing any germs.



http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/12927014.Vintage_Kingston__Hospital_fights_off_superbug/

Sunday, March 15, 2015

How Scared Should We Be of the Potentially Deadly Bacteria C. Diff?

This is exactly why our decontamination, room cleaning system to get rid of C.diff is so useful. You must wash with soap and water to get rid of this bug. You can not just use alcohol hand sanitizer. 
The bacteria will grow on surfaces and is very difficult to clean. 




A great article written by Mike Pearl. http://www.vice.com/read/heres-how-scared-you-should-be-of-a-c-diff-infection-731


How Scared Should We Be of the Potentially Deadly Bacteria C. Diff?

February 27, 2015

A nasty gut bacteria called Clostridium Difficile (or C. Diff) is reportedly attacking patients who've recently been to the doctor at a rate of nearly 500,000 infections per yearaccording to a paper published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. If you get it, you may soon be dealing with the three worst words in the English language:painful, deadly diarrhea.
We hear about stuff that can kill us all the time, of course, and it's hard to tell how worried we should be about individual maladies—remember Ebola? With so much health-related white noise in the news, how concerned should we be about C. Diff?
The short answer: If you've taken antibiotics lately, or you know someone who has, you really should be a little concerned. That's what Elizabeth Hohmann, a gastroenterologist who is also a pioneer in the treatment of C. Diff infections, told me.I interviewed Dr. Hohmann to figure out where "pooping yourself to death due to a C. Diffinfection" should slot into my buffet of medical fears. She didn't exactly put my mind at ease, but she did remind me about the exciting news that fecal transplants are coming to a hospital near me.
VICE: How scared should we be about getting deadly diarrhea?
Elizabeth Hohmann, MD: A little bit more worried than we were before that paper was published. I think the key finding of the paper is that there's even more of this than we thought and an even greater appreciation that it can be a fatal disease, especially in fragile old people.
Why are people at risk after going to the doctor?Most people get C. Diff after antibiotics are given for another illness. They kill a lot of those beneficial bacteria in our intestines, which can create fertile ground for C. Diff to grow up, take hold, reproduce, and create toxins and bring about the mayhem that it does. I think this is yet another wake up call about antibiotic abuse. When we don't need antibiotics we should not be using them.
Is it considered an "antibiotic resistant" bacterial infection?
That's a tough question actually. It's an anaerobic bacterium, meaning it doesn't grow in the air, so it's actually very difficult to assess its sensitivity to antibiotics. To grow it you have to keep it in a strict environment with no air present. Unlike bacteria you just throw on an agar plate and grow it in a 37-degree incubator, it's actually quite a thing to assess.
But it's related to that issue, right?
It's certainly a product of antibiotic overuse.
What are some of the symptoms people deal with?
Basically diarrhea. Abdominal pain, cramping, sometimes fever, nausea, vomiting. But the first signal is diarrhea.
But obviously not everyone with diarrhea has it.
It gets complicated because a lot of people on antibiotics, like for sinusitis, get antibiotic-associated diarrhea that's not C. Diff. So a lot of doctors think, Oh, it's just antibiotic-associated diarrhea. It's gonna go away, and then it gets worse and worse and worse.
Would you say this report came out to correct those misdiagnoses?
[That] and nobody wants to talk about it. And patients who have this are sometimes treated like pariahs! I've had patients who told me, "Once it got out that I had this no one wanted to come to my home." It's a spore-forming bacteria, which is why doctors and hospitals get agitated about it.
Oh God, is it really that contagious?No. I take care of patients with C. Diff all day long some days. I'm a perfectly healthy person though, and I'm like bathing in it probably, around all these people with diarrhea, but I don't get sick. Because it's not enough to just be exposed.
So you have to be exposed to it to get it, and on antibiotics. Anything else?
Another thing that makes people more susceptible is having no stomach acids. A lot of people are on these powerful medications [like omeprazole] that really knock out your stomach acid. I ask them, and they don't even know why they're on it.
So other than antibiotics, how are you treating it C. Diff?
After that, you start talking about things like fecal transplant. Really, it's taking poop from a healthy person and putting it into the colon. You can do that by an enema. You can do it by colonoscopy. You can use a nasogastric tube. Or you can do with—as we have made—a capsule. You can make one from processed stool, and give it to people as capsules.
But just to be clear, people who think they might have C. Diff trying to give themselves fecal transplants...
Bad idea. Very bad idea. It needs to be medically supervised. You need the right kind of screening for the donor, and a medically safe form of administration.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Halo Disinfection System™

The Halo Disinfection System™

A Powerful Portfolio of Products for Your Unique Needs

The Halo Disinfection System™
Now you can arm every member of your infection prevention team with a safe and effective environment protection solution. Treat any room in your facility with a system proven to kill disease-causing pathogens, including the most difficult to kill, C. diff spores.
The Halo Disinfection System combines a choice of two patented hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants for use with the dry-mist dispensing HaloFogger® as an easy-to-use and affordable surface disinfection system. Unlike ineffective “spray & wipe” and UV disinfection technologies, the Halo Disinfection System delivers hands-free, whole room surface disinfection at a 6-log kill rate that saves patients’ lives.
This hands-free solution is a family of unique products and accessories designed to deliver infection-rate reducing results safely at a cost lower than other surface disinfection technologies.

Advantages of Using the Halo Disinfection System:

  • Room fogging is proven to be the most thorough and cost effective method for treating all the exposed surfaces within a room while reducing the labor and skilled required to perform an effective treatment, and it is safe for use with sensitive electronic equipment.
  • The Halo Disinfection System reaches into nooks, crevices and corners that disinfecting sprays & wipes can’t, reaching every exposed surface in a room, not just the primary or “high-touch” surfaces, and reducing the risk of cross-contamination associated with using a rag, wipe or sponge.
  • The Halo healthcare-grade hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants are EPA approved, unscented and bleach free.

Whole Room Surface Disinfection

  • Validated 99.9999% kill rate against C. difficile spores
  • Proven to reduce infection rates
  • Goes where sprays & wipes can’t
  • Affordable and easy-to-use

The Halo Disinfection System – Saving lives one room at a time™

The Halo Disinfection System product portfolio includes:
HaloMist™

Sanosil HaloMist™ Disinfectant Fogging Solution

First EPA registered disinfecting fogging formula for whole room disinfection.
› Learn More about HaloMist

HaloSpray™

HaloSpray™ All-Purpose Surface Disinfectant

Broad-spectrum disinfection formula kills bacteria and viruses on hard, non-porous surfaces that you come into contact with everyday.
› Learn More about HaloSpray

HaloFogger®

HaloFogger® Hands Free Dry-Mist Dispensing Device

Thoroughly deliver dry-mist of concentrated Halo™ Disinfectant to every exposed surface within a room.
› Learn More about HaloFogger

In addition, the Halo Disinfection System has unique accessories designed to solve many room treatment challenges. These accessories include HaloShield™ Vent Covers, Hydrogen Peroxide Chemical Indicator Strips and the Sanosil Power Module.

http://sanosilinternational.com/halo-disinfection-system

ECRI's Watch List for Hospital Execs Highlights Technology

Robots are the number one on the list of new technologies. We are one of the first to bring it into the home.

Prevention survey on any given day, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection and 75,000 deaths a year are due to HAIs


1. Disinfection Robots

With hospital-acquired complications costing upwards of $35,000 per patient, hospitals are stepping up cleaning protocols to improve safety. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey on any given day, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection and 75,000 deaths a year are due to HAIs.
Some hospitals are turning to robotic systems that purport to do a better job than traditional environmental cleaning by using ultraviolet-C light or hydrogen peroxide vapor. These are technologies used in other industries, but relatively new to healthcare.
The robots are dispatched after traditional cleaning in between patients, and may be especially effective in areas in high-risk areas such intensive care units.
Some studies indicate the robots work, Maliff says, but the problem is knowing which devices reduce infections at rates above traditional cleaning. Additionally, he says, "a lot of the evidence we have seen doesn't compare the technologies head-to-head. It's difficult to separate the impact these systems have on the overall infection control program."
These systems are costly, too, ranging from about $47,000 to $125,000, plus service contracts.

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/slideshow.cfm?content_id=312936&pg=1

The Role of Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Systems in Infection Control

Great article that highlights great things about Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Therapy

 the peroxide is broken down in to oxygen and water vapor

layer of hydrogen peroxide is deposited on to all the surfaces in the room. The micro-condensation layer is a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide producing a rapid kill of all microorganisms, one feature of the micro-condensation process is that the kill rate is independent of the concentration of peroxide in the air


By Mark Hodgson

In the continual challenge faced by infection preventionists to drive down healthcare-acquired infection (HAI) rates, the impact of the environment as a reservoir of pathogens is becoming increasingly clear.(1-3) It has been demonstrated that not only do pathogens shed by prior occupants of a room remain viable for prolonged periods,(4-6) but that these present a significantly increased risk of infection to subsequent room occupants.(7-8) While routine cleaning can reduce the microbiological burden in a patient room it does not always eliminate the presence of bacteria and hence risk of infection.(9-10) Even where very stringent cleaning regimens are in place, it is a constant challenge to maintain high-quality cleaning in a room.(10-11) As increasingly resistant organisms are shed by patients into the environment, the need to prevent infection becomes ever more pressing. How clean do you need to get to reduce infection rates?
The hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) system relies on micro-condensation to effect total elimination of pathogens, including endospore forming bacteria such as Clostridium difficile, from the inanimate environment.(12-13) It has been established that the closest proxy for "total elimination" is a full six-log reduction of spore-forming bacteria, usually in the form of biological indicators.

The basic question is, "How clean do you need to get to reduce infection rates?" At present, there is simply not enough data to answer this question and, due to the difficulties with designing infection control studies, we may never know the answer. What we do know is that at present all of the clinical data published on reducing infection rates though area sterilization is based on a total elimination of pathogens, validated by a six-log kill; other lower-level kill methods have not yet been shown to reduce infection rates.(12-15)

This is surprising, as the detectable bioburden in the hospital environment is rarely more than 100 to 1000 cfu/cm3; however, the complications of room topology, and the presence of dust, grime or biofilm significantly increase the resistance of bacteria to decontamination methods. Decontamination cycles designed to produce less than total elimination are frequently found to leave a contaminated environment.

HPV can be used proactively to prevent infection or reactively to stop outbreaks. HPV is used in hospitals worldwide, primarily for the terminal disinfection of rooms used to care for patients with MDROs to reduce the risk of acquisition for subsequent room occupants.(13) The most efficient way to achieve this is to have HPV decontamination equipment on the hospital site integrated into the hospital's procedures. This can be achieved either as a service or through equipment purchase. Another key application of HPV in hospitals is for decontamination during outbreaks.(15) Decontamination of areas used to care for patients who have acquired an outbreak strain can help to prevent the outbreak reoccurring from an environmental source. Other applications in hospitals include decontamination for mobile medical equipment, fixed installations in high risk areas, and preventative decontamination of lower risk areas.
HPV is infinitely scalable from a single room to an entire unit, or even an entire hospital. When the process of HPV was first introduced to U.S. hospitals, the equipment required specialist technicians to operate, today as the technology has improved, hospital staff can be trained to perform decontaminations safely and effectively. 

How it works:
1. After the patient has vacated housekeeping remove the bed linens and trash.
2. Set up the room and equipment
3. Enter user password in control panel
4. Select "parametric cycle" on control panel
5. Select the room being sterilized from the menu
6. Start the process
7. When the control panel tells you the process is complete confirm the concentration is less than 1 ppm.
8. Remove the equipment and return the room to service.

HPV fills the space in the room distributing evenly through the space regardless of the room configuration, this allows the vapor to work around corners in shadow areas and behind equipment and other obstructions. Once the saturation vapor pressure of peroxide is reached a micro condensation layer of hydrogen peroxide is deposited on to all the surfaces in the room. The micro-condensation layer is a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide producing a rapid kill of all microorganisms, one feature of the micro-condensation process is that the kill rate is independent of the concentration of peroxide in the air, typical time dose relationships do not apply using this method. The micro-condensation process provides a full three-dimensional kill.

Following a dwell time to allow a full six-log kill the aeration unit is activated. Hydrogen peroxide vapor is drawn in to the aeration unit and the peroxide is broken down in to oxygen and water vapor. This leaves the room free from pathogens and much safer for the next occupant.

Regarding consumables, a number of studies have shown that the exterior packaging of unopened supplies in rooms occupied contact precautions patients will become contaminated with pathogens shed by the patient.(16) As a result of this contamination, standard practice is to dispose of unused consumables when the patient is discharged. It costs the hospital money to replace the unused items and the materials must be disposed of, possibly explaining why healthcare is the second largest user of landfill in the country. Micro-condensation HPV systems have been shown to safely decontaminate the packaging of unopened consumables items in the patient room being sterilized.16 This has been shown to produce tangible cost-benefit for the hospitals.
This process has been applied to hospitals throughout the world to reduce infection rates; in the U.S. alone more than 1,500 rooms a month are treated using this process. As the number of published studies showing reduced infection rates increases, the level of acceptance of the process is increasing.(17) HPV is now regularly deployed to stop outbreaks and prevent infections in some of America’s busiest hospitals. Many hospitals have benefited from the major savings available from the application of HPV due to reduced infection rates.

Mark Hodgson is head of healthcare sales for BioQuell Inc.

References
1. Yukoe, et al. A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidem. October 2008.
2. Guide to the Elimination of Clostridium difficile in Healthcare Settings. APIC. 2008.
3. Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms In Healthcare Settings. CDC. 2006.
4. Hirai Y. Survival of bacteria under dry conditions; from a view of nosocomial infection. J Hosp Infect. 1991;19:191-200.
5. Wagenvoort JHT, Sluijsmans W, Penders RJR. Better environmental survival of outbreak vs. sporadic MRSA isolates. J Hosp Infect.2000;45:231-234.
6. Bonilla HF, Zervos MJ, Kauffman CA. Long-term survival of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium on a contaminated surface. Infect Cont Hosp Epidemiol 1996;17:770-772.
7. Huang SS, Datta R, Platt R. Risk of Acquiring Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria From Prior Room Occupants. Arch Intern Med. Vol. 166. Oct. 9, 2006.
8. Drees M, Snydman D, Schmid C, et al. Prior Environmental Contamination Increases the Risk of Acquisition of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci. Clin Infect Dis. 2008;46:678-685.
9. Hayden MK, Bonten MJ, Blom DW, Lyle EA, van de Vijver DA and Weinstein RA. Reduction in Acquisition of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus after Enforcement of Routine Environmental Cleaning Measures. Clin Infect Dis. June 2006:42.
10. Dancer SJ. Importance of the environment in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus acquisition: the case for hospital cleaning. Lancet. Vol. 7. December 2007.
11. French GL, Otter JA, Shannon KP, Adams NM, Watling D, Parks MJ. Tackling contamination of the hospital environment by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): a comparison between conventional terminal cleaning and hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination. J Hosp Infect. 2004;57:31-37.
12. Boyce JM, Havill NL, Otter JA, et al. Impact of hydrogen peroxide vapor room decontamination on Clostridium difficile environmental contamination and transmission in a healthcare setting. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008;29:723-729.
13. Passaretti K, et al, Adherence to Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor (HPV) Decontamination Reduces VRE Acquisition in High Risk Units, ICAAC 2008. 2009.
14. Schouten MA, Otter JA, van Zanten AR, Houmes-Zielman G, Nohlmans-Paulssen MK. Environmental decontamination of an intensive care unit to control outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative rods using hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV). Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2007;29 Suppl. 2:S479.
15. Manian, et al. Impact of an Intensive Terminal Cleaning and Disinfection (C/D) Program Involving Selected Hospital Rooms on Endemic Nosocomial Infection (NI) Rates of Common Pathogens at a Tertiary Care Medical Center; SHEA 2010.
16. Otter, et al. Decontamination of unused, packaged consumables contaminated with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) using hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV); SHEA 2010.
17. Rutala, et al. Dinsinfection, Sterilization and Antisepsis 2010 Edition APIC.

http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2010/11/the-role-of-hydrogen-peroxide-vapor-systems-in-infection-control.aspx

Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Enhances Hospital Disinfection of Superbugs

Large hospital institutions are using this therapy to decrease infection rates


Johns Hopkins to begin decontaminating isolation rooms with robotic, vapor-dispersing devices


Release Date: December 31, 2012
Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called hospital superbugs.

A study report on the use of hydrogen peroxide vaporizers -- first deployed in several Singapore hospitals during the 2002 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and later stocked by several U.S. government agencies in case of an anthrax attack - is to be published Jan. 1 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In the study, the Johns Hopkins team placed the devices in single hospital rooms after routine cleaning to disperse a thin film of the bleaching hydrogen peroxide across all exposed hospital equipment surfaces, as well as on room floors and walls. Results showed that the enhanced cleaning reduced by 64 percent the number of patients who later became contaminated with any of the most common drug-resistant organisms. Moreover, researchers found that protection from infection was conferred on patients regardless of whether the previous room occupant was infected with drug-resistant bacteria or not.

"Hydrogen peroxide vapor, as spread around patients' rooms by these devices, represents a major technological advance in preventing the spread of dangerous bacteria inside hospitals and, especially, from one patient occupant to the next, even though sick patients were never in the same room at the same time," says infectious disease specialist and study senior investigator Trish Perl, M.D., M.Sc.

Of special note, researchers say, was that enhanced cleaning with the vapor reduced by 80 percent a patient's chances of becoming colonized by a particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE).

In what is believed to be the first head-to-head comparison between traditional hand-cleaning and mopping with bleaching agents and robotic vaporizers, researchers routinely tested patients and their surroundings not only for VRE, but also for the more common methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and lesser-known bacteria, including Clostridium difficile and Acinetobacter baumannii.

Some 6,350 patient admissions to JHH were closely tracked as part of the two-and-a-half-year analysis, as patients moved into and out of 180 private hospital rooms. Almost half the rooms received enhanced cleaning with hydrogen peroxide vapor in between patients, while the rest did not. Overall, multiple-drug-resistant organisms were found on room surfaces in 21 percent of rooms tested, but mostly in rooms that did not undergo enhanced cleaning.

Perl says that patients bringing in or picking up drug-resistant organisms while undergoing treatment in hospitals is a persistent and growing problem, and previous research has shown that patients who stay in a hospital room previously occupied by an infected patient are at greater risk of becoming infected.

"Our study results are evidence that technological solutions, when combined with standard cleaning, can effectively and systematically decontaminate patients' rooms and augment other behavioral practices, such as strict hospital staff compliance with hand-washing and bathing patients in disinfecting chlorhexidine when they are first admitted to the hospital," says Perl, senior hospital epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins Health System and a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Our goal is to improve all hospital infection control practices, including cleaning and disinfection, as well as behavioral and environmental practices, to the point where preventing the spread of these multiple-drug-resistant organisms also minimizes the chances of patients becoming infected and improves their chances of recovery," says Perl.

The paired robot-like devices, each about the size of a washing machine and weighing nearly 60 pounds, as well as supplies used in the study, were provided by their manufacturer, Bioquell Inc. of Horsham, Pa.

After the room has been cleaned, the vents are covered and the two devices are placed inside. The sliding door is closed, and the room is sealed. Then, the larger of the two devices disperses hydrogen peroxide into the room, leaving a very tiny, almost invisible layer (only 2 microns to 6 microns in thickness) on all exposed surfaces, including keyboards and monitors, as well as tables and chairs.

Because hydrogen peroxide can be toxic to humans if ingested or corrosive if left on the skin for too long, the second, smaller device is activated to break down the bleach into its component water and oxygen parts. The combined operation takes the devices about an hour and a half to complete.

"What is so exciting about this new method of infection control is that the devices are easy to use and hospital staff embrace it very quickly," says surgeon and study co-investigator Pamela Lipsett, M.D., M.H.P.E. Lipsett, a professor and director of surgical and critical care fellowship training at Johns Hopkins, says that during the study and before room cleanings, staff were "wheeling in" other pieces of equipment so these, too, could be decontaminated by the hydrogen peroxide vapor.

As a result of the study and the researchers' recommendation, JHH has purchased two of the Bioquell decontaminating units, which cost more than $40,000 per pair. The devices, already in use at some 20 other hospitals across the country, will be used at Johns Hopkins to decontaminate rooms typically housing high-risk patients under strict isolation precautions because of severe infection with a multiple-drug-resistant organism.

Researchers say they next plan to study the devices' effectiveness at decontaminating the outside packaging of unused but potentially exposed hospital supplies, which are typically discarded even though their seals remain intact. The research team also wants to coordinate study testing among other hospitals to validate their Johns Hopkins findings. Larger and longer studies may also be planned, to precisely measure and determine how well the devices work against the spread of each hospital superbug. The current study had only sufficient numbers to statistically validate the paired unit's effectiveness against VRE.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/hydrogen_peroxide_vapor_enhances_hospital_disinfection_of_superbugs


Thursday, March 5, 2015

CNN Reports : CDC investigates deadly bacteria's link to doctors' offices

CNN reported that the CDC study, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, said 150,000 people who had not been in the hospital came down with C. diff in 2011. Of those, 82% had visited a doctor's or dentist's office in the 12 weeks before their diagnosis.

The study reports a substantial number of people contracted the bug who hadn't been in a hospital, but had recently visited the doctor or dentist.

What is your doctor doing to prevent the spread of these infections? 

What if you have been diagnosed with it? How do you get rid of it from your home?