ArticleBMC infectious diseases2019
Efficacy of pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light for disinfection of high-touch surfaces in an Ecuadorian hospital.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- The efficacy of ultraviolet light-emitting technology against coronaviruses: a systematic review.The Journal of hospital infection · 2021Pooled it
- Environmental contamination of carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria away from isolated patients in intensive care unit: a comprehensive surveillance study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Use of Ozone for Disinfection of PHARMODUCTPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Performance of an Autonomous Sanitary Sterilisation Ultraviolet Machine (ASSUM) on terminal disinfection of surgical theaters and rooms of an intensive-intermediate care unit.Infection prevention in practice · 2024Article
- Assessment of Soiling on Highly Touched Clinical Surfaces in Intensive Care Units.Florence Nightingale journal of nursing · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of Manual Terminal Cleaning Varies on High-Touch Surfaces Near the Operative Field.Arthroplasty today · 2022Article
- Hospital surface disinfection using ultraviolet germicidal irradiation technology: A review.Healthcare technology letters · 2022Review
- An Autonomous Robot-Aided Auditing Scheme for Floor Cleaning.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Potential of pulsed light technology for control of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital environments.Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology · 2021Review
- Bacterial, Gut Microbiome-Modifying Therapies to Defend against Multidrug Resistant Organisms.Microorganisms · 2020Review
- Control of Methicillin-ResistantFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Use of ultraviolet-C in environmental sterilization in hospitals: A systematic review on efficacy and safety.International journal of health sciencesReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHospital environment in patient care has been linked on healthcare-associated infections (HAI). No touch disinfection technologies that utilize pulsed xenon ultraviolet light has been recognized to prevent infection in contaminated environments. The purpose of this study was: 1) to evaluate the effectiveness of pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light (PX-UV) disinfection for the reduction of bacteria on environmental surfaces of Hospital General Enrique Garcés, and 2) to evaluate the in-vitro efficacy against multi-drug resistance microorganisms.
methodsThis was a quality-improvement study looking at cleaning and disinfection of patient areas. During the study, a total of 146 surfaces from 17 rooms were sampled in a secondary 329-bed public medical center. Microbiological samples of high-touch surfaces were taken after terminal manual cleaning and after pulsed xenon ultraviolet disinfection. Cleaning staff were blinded to the study purpose and told clean following their usual protocols. For positive cultures PCR identification for carbapenemase-resistance genes (blaKPC, blaIMP, blaVIM, and blaNDM) were analyzed and confirmed by sequencing. The total number of colony forming units (CFU) were obtained and statistical analyses were conducted using Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests to evaluate the difference in CFU between terminal manual cleaning and after pulsed xenon ultraviolet disinfection.
resultsAfter manual disinfection of 124 surfaces showed a total of 3569 CFU which dropped to 889 CFU in 80 surfaces after pulsed xenon disinfection (p < 0.001). Overall, the surface and environmental contamination was reduced by 75% after PX-UV compared to manual cleaning and disinfection. There were statistically significant decreases in CFU counts of high touch surfaces in OR 87% (p < 0.001) and patient rooms 76% (p < 0.001). Four rooms presented serine carbapenemases blaKPC, and metallo beta-lactamases blaNDM, blaVIM, blaIMP. confirmed by PCR and sequencing. The in-vitro testing with endemic strains found that after five minutes of pulsed xenon ultraviolet exposure an 8-log reduction was achieved in all cases.
conclusionThis study is one of the first of its kind in an Ecuador Hospital. We found that pulsed-xenon ultraviolet disinfection technology is an efficacious complement to the established manual cleaning protocols and guidelines in the significant reduction of MDRO.
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