Impact of environmental decontamination using hydrogen peroxide vapour on the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection in one hospital Trust.

摘要

Recent evidence from the USA suggests that hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) decontamination of rooms used to treat patients with Clostridium difficile reduces the incidence of C. difficile infection (CDI).1'2 No published data are available from the UK regarding the clinical impact of HPV. HPV was implemented for several months in 2008 at a number of National Health Service (NHS) Trusts, as part of the Department of Health Showcase Hospitals Project (SHP). This letter reports some interesting findings relating to the deployment at one of these hospital TrustsHPV has been demonstrated to have in vitro efficacy against various nosocomial pathogens including C. difficile spores.3 The technology has been shown to eradicate C. difficile from environmental surfaces and reduce the incidence of CDI in a US hospital.2 In 2008 the Department of Health introduced the Showcase Hospital Project (SHP) to assess the feasibility of implementing various technologies that have shown potential for the reduction of healthcare-associated infections.4 Technologies which achieved 'Recommendation 1' from the Rapid Review Panel ('basic research and development, validation and in-use evaluations have shown benefits that should be available to the NHS bodies') were placed into seven hospitals around the UK for a period of up to six months. The Bioquell HPV system was implemented at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust from August to December 2008 as part of the SHP.