UV-C disinfection could reduce hospital acquired infections
And be used to disinfect personal protection gear worn by healthcare personnel treating Ebola patients
The use of Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) technology is emerging as one of the leading ways of quickly and effectively disinfecting hospitals, including settings in which the patient is being treated for the Ebola virus.
It is well known that Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) are a fast growing problem for healthcare facilities. The US CDC says that one in 20 patients has an infection while receiving treatment in a US hospital and the economic burden to the country could reach US$45bn each year.
Finding better ways to disinfect healthcare settings effectively is an ongoing struggle for healthcare professionals. As a result, scientists are developing UV-C technology to combat pathogens such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile. UV-C has already been proven to be effective in disinfecting and treating water.
The recent experience of two US healthcare workers becoming infected with the Ebola virus while treating an infected patient is bringing the nation's attention to gaps in the ability to protect doctors, nurses and environmental service personnel.
UV-C has already been proven to be effective in disinfecting and treating water
Peter Gordon, Managing Partner at Germgard Lighting and LiTeProducts and Co-Chairman of the IUVA Health Care Working Group, says: 'UV-C technology has been demonstrated to be an excellent germicidal agent in healthcare settings. It is a fast and efficacious disinfectant, and can effectively protect patients and healthcare workers from a variety of dangerous pathogens, including the Ebola virus.'
UV-C is applied by exposing contaminated surfaces and air to a burst of germicidal light, which is able rapidly to inactivate micro-organisms.
According to Gordon, hospital surfaces are being continually contaminated by pathogens transmitted by people who enter the room with contaminated hands and compromised clothing, contaminated instruments and items that are brought into the room, and even the patient in the room. In addition, the air entering the room is not sterile and deposits pathogens containing fomites, which settle onto surfaces.
UV-C technology offers a way to disinfect the most important surfaces in hospitals and other healthcare settings, with special attention to those areas, surfaces and equipment closest to the patient, where healthcare workers also have the greatest chance of exposure.
While UV-C offers several advantages over chemical disinfection agents, Gordon points out that it has its limitations. The effectiveness of UV-C depends on surfaces being cleaned prior to exposure to UV-C; the application of UV-C usually requires that the patient and healthcare workers are not in the area; and the fundamental optics of UV-C result in some surfaces getting only indirect sanitation from the UV-C light.
But he suggests that 'in the special case of Ebola virus, given the opaqueness of personal protection gear, UV-C may be useful in the decontamination of that gear prior to removal, and it can also lower the risks for disposal'.
There is no disinfection technique, short of sterilisation, that is absolutely 100% effective in destroying all infectious pathogens and sterilisation is impractical for the patient and the healthcare worker in a number of applications.
UV-C technology, even in its nascent stage, offers many opportunities to improve the degree and effectiveness of sanitation efforts, as well as the ability to verify effectiveness, Gordon adds. Furthermore, it is expected that the technology will evolve so that its ability to provide targeted disinfection will improve.
The IUVA is organising a one-day workshop that will explore UV-C for infection prevention on 28 October 2014, in White Plains, NY, US.
