ArticleEClinicalMedicine2023
Environmental cleaning to prevent hospital-acquired infections on non-intensive care units: a pragmatic, single-centre, cluster randomized controlled, crossover trial comparing soap-based, disinfection and probiotic cleaning.
Article in EClinicalMedicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- How long do bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses retain their replication capacity on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review examining environmental resilience versus healthcare-associated infection risk by "fomite-borne risk assessment".Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Global technological trends in sustainable antimicrobial surface formulations: a patent-based review for cleaner healthcare environments.Future science OA · 2026Review
- Characterising the Hospital Microbiota: A Descriptive Study of Environmental Monitoring.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Decontamination of environmental surfaces in hospitals to reduce hospital-acquired infections: a systematic review.Infection prevention in practice · 2026Review
- Multiphase terminal environmental disinfection targeting Acinetobacter baumannii sustains reduction in multidrug-resistant organism healthcare-associated infections in an ICU.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial Peptides as Next-Generation Disinfectants: Tackling Biocide and Antimicrobial Resistance in Hospital Hygiene - A Narrative Review.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- [S1 guideline on sustainability in intensive care and emergency medicine].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2025Review
- Clean to Prevent, Monitor to Protect: A Scoping Review on Strategies for Monitoring Cleaning in Hospitals to Prevent HAIs.Infectious disease reports · 2025Review
- Probiotic-Based Cleaning Solutions: From Research Hypothesis to Infection Control Applications.Biology · 2025Review
- Risk analysis approaches for microbial ingredients in microbial-based cleaning products.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2025Article
- Probiotic-Based Approaches for Sustainable Control of Infectious Risk in Mass Transport: Current Data and Future Perspectives.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Review
- Profiling the resistome and virulome of Bacillus strains used for probiotic-based sanitation: a multicenter WGS analysis.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Respiratory quaternary ammonium and volatile organic compound exposures experienced by home care aides during residential bathroom cleaning using conventional and green products.Annals of work exposures and health · 2025Article
- Microbes Saving Lives and Reducing Suffering.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Article
- Can probiotics trigger a paradigm shift for cleaning healthcare environments? A narrative review.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Review
- Disinfectants efficacy in reducing pathogens related to health-care infection associated in universities hospitals of Gorgan, North of Iran.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Observational
- Tackling transmission of infectious diseases: A probiotic-based system as a remedy for the spread of pathogenic and resistant microbes.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Review
- Promiscuous, persistent and problematic: insights into current enterococcal genomics to guide therapeutic strategy.BMC microbiology · 2024Review
- The invisible life.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- A critical assessment of microbial-based antimicrobial sanitizing of inanimate surfaces in healthcare settings.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The impact of environmental hygiene on the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) remains a subject of debate. We determined the effect of three different surface-cleaning strategies on the incidence of HAIs. Methods: Between June 2017 and August 2018 we conducted a pragmatic, cluster-randomized controlled crossover trial at 18 non-ICU wards in the university hospital of Berlin, Germany. Surfaces in patient rooms on the study wards were routinely cleaned using one of three agents: Soap-based (reference), disinfectant and probiotic. Each strategy was used on each ward for four consecutive months (4m-4m-4m). There was a one-month wash-in period at the beginning of the study and after each change in strategy. The order of strategies used was randomized for each ward. Primary outcome was the incidence of HAIs. The trial was registered with the German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00012675. Findings: 13,896 admitted patients met the inclusion criteria, including 4708 in the soap-based (reference) arm, 4535 in the disinfectant arm and 4653 in the probiotic arm. In the reference group, the incidence density of HAIs was 2.31 per 1000 exposure days. The incidence density was similar in the disinfectant arm 2.21 cases per 1000 exposure days (IRR 0.95; 95% CI 0.69-1.31; p = 0.953) and the probiotic arm 2.21 cases per 1000 exposure days (IRR 0.96; 95% CI 0.69-1.32; p = 0.955). Interpretation: In non-ICU wards, routine surface disinfection proved not superior to soap-based or probiotic cleaning in terms of HAI prevention. Thus, probiotic cleaning could be an interesting alternative, especially in terms of environmental protection. Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (03Z0818C). Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-004308).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.