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Evaluation of Two Hot Water Washer Disinfectors for Medical Instruments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

L.P. Jette  and
N.G. Lambert
L.P. Jette*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada
N.G. Lambert
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada
*
Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec, 20045 Chemin Ste-Marie Ouest, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 3R5
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Abstract

Two models of hot water washer disinfectors (Decomat 128 and Hospital A, Euroclean Canada Inc; Ontario, Canada) were evaluated by two methods for their efficacy in disinfecting anesthesia equipment. In the first method, three different microbial suspensions were each sealed into 30 capillary tubes. In the second method, corrugated anesthesia tubes were rinsed with suspensions of each of two bacterial strains. The tubes then underwent a standard cycle in the hot water washer disinfectors and were subsequently tested for growth of microorganisms. All experiments were repeated three times, and the temperature was registered in all cases. In the capillary test, growth was rarely detected (13/540 tubes) and the inactivation factor for both apparatus was > 5 log,,. In the rinse test, no growth was detected. The mean temperature for 15 disinfection cycles was 84.2 ± 0.8°C for Decomat 128 and 88.9 ± 0.5% for Hospital A. However, for Decomat 128 we observed a variation of 3°C from one disinfection cycle to another and a progressive reduction of 2.2°C over a series of five consecutive complete cycles. Both methods gave reproducible results. Under our experimental conditions, both hot water washer disinfectors proved to be efficacious for the disinfection of reusable anesthesia equipment.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , May 1988 , pp. 194 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1988

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