Monitoring the survival & spread of resistant micro-organisms in the
hospital environment
To address the question, Does ward environmental contamination with
MRSA matter and how should the environment be cleaned and
disinfected?
This project is headed by Dr Alan Beswick, Senior Scientist, Health
& Safety Laboratory.
The aims of the study are: 1. To determine if current cleaning policies are adequate to
control environmental colonisation by Methicillin Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Including: 2. Assessment of the efficacy of physical methods of
cleaning; including the timing of cleaning regimes, the cleaner⦣128;™s
activities within the ward environment and rate of recontamination
between existing cleaning regimes; 3. Assessment of the efficacy of chemical methods used for
cleaning and disinfection, including comparison of traditional
liquid disinfection and. gaseous fumigation; and 4. Make recommendations for improvements to current
practices, as appropriate.
The work will involve hard surface swabbing and bacterial culture
from a large number of samples, before and after wet disinfection,
on an MRSA cohort ward at City Hospital, Birmingham. This will
establish the efficacy of traditional wet cleaning / disinfection
and rate of recontamination. Forty air samples will be taken to
monitor any airborne microbial spread. Vaporised Hydrogen Peroxide (VHP)
equipment will be evaluated alongside wet disinfection in both
hospital side room and a controlled exposure chamber, the latter at
the Health and Safety Laboratory, Buxton; involving analysis of over
500 samples.
This project commenced in Sept 2006 and is
due to complete at the end of Feb 08
