2181. Efficacy of UV-C Disinfection with or Without Sodium Hypochlorite Compared with Usual Disinfection of Hospital Environmental Surfaces: Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: The hospital environment is known to harbor pathogens that cause healthcare-associated infections. Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) has been a common method for disinfection due to its low cost and wide availability. Nevertheless, UV-C is less time-consuming and less prone to human errors. We are aware of only one study that has directly compared UV-C against NaClO in a high-income country.(1) METHODS: A pilot study was designed to test three different methods for terminal room disinfection: (1) NaClO (1,000 ppm); (2) UV-C (two 5-minute cycles at a maximum radius of 2.4 m with the UVDI UV360™ device); and (3) NaClO followed by UV-C. After patient discharge, housekeeping staff cleaned every room with detergent. Next, the rooms were subjected to one of the three disinfection procedures in a nonrandomized way. Environmental cultures were taken before and after cleaning and after every disinfection procedure, from three high touch areas: bedrails, patient tables and mattresses. Bedrails were sampled with swabs and the rest of the surfaces with RODAC™ plates. Cultures were processed by the same external accredited laboratory. Our main objective was to calculate reductions in total bacterial counts (measured in CFUs) to estimate the sample size for a larger multicenter study. We hypothesized that similar bacterial count reductions would be observed for the three methods. RESULTS: Eight rooms were tested in 4 hospitals in Mexico City (total of 85 cultures). Median bacterial count reductions with their respective IQRs, adjusted to CFUs after cleaning, were: 1 (0–10) after NaClO only; 5 (0–30) after UV-C only, and 1 (0–10) after NaClO + UV-C (Kruskal–Wallis test, P = 0.419); the respective median proportion reductions were 95.8% (0–100%), 90.1% (75–100%) and 100% (10–100%). CONCLUSION: All three disinfection methods seem to be equally effective for the reduction of total bacterial counts on hospital surfaces, regardless the type of hospital or ward. With a sufficiently powered study, we will attempt to demonstrate that UV-C alone could be used instead of NaClO (reference disinfectant in Mexico), possibly with time and economic savings. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.