Eliminating Spores: Challenges and Solutions

Usually associated with acute healthcare, CDI is a prevalent issue in community care, primarily affecting individuals with risk factors such as age, antibiotic exposure, and periods of hospitalisation. Government data shows that up to 43% of CDI cases were community acquired. Current community decontamination practices are limited due to the restraints on care and community facilities such as staff time, material costs, and staff training. Hence the need to implement and maintain an effective cleaning strategy is of utmost importance.

C Diff. is very resilient and can be a challenge to kill for many disinfectants. Traditional disinfectant types, such as alcohols, phenols, and quaternary ammonium compounds (such as wipes) are ineffective against spores, and have a much lower kill rate than other disinfectants. Chlorine based cleaners are sporicidal at very high strengths but come with the usual issues that chlorine compounds have of being corrosive, environmentally hazardous, and dangerous to staff’s long-term respiratory health.

Peracetic acid is the ideal disinfectant for C Diff. as it is highly sporicidal. Other peroxides such as HPV are effective, but the area being disinfected can be out of use for several hours as an extremely high, corrosive, and harmful strength is needed.

This makes Peracide the ideal disinfectant in these situations as it is:

• Easy to handle and simple to use

• Sporicidal in as little as 15 seconds at 4000 ppm

• Not harmful to staff, patients, and infrastructure

• Quick turnaround, and kills all known pathogens

Contact Sky Chemicals at info@skychemicals.co.uk or 0114 278 0222 to discuss.

Stuart Bown, BSc (Hons). Regulatory Administrator and Company Trainer.
Liam Grimshaw, BSc (Hons) MSc (by research). General Manager.