Validated measurements of microbial loads on environmental surfaces in intensive care units before and after disinfecting cleaning.

AIMS: Preanalytic aspects can make results of hygiene studies difficult to compare. Efficacy of surface disinfection was assessed with an evaluated swabbing procedure.

METHODS AND RESULTS: A validated microbial screening of surfaces was performed in the patients' environment and from hands of healthcare workers on two intensive care units (ICUs) prior to and after a standardized disinfection procedure. From a pure culture, the recovery rate of the swabs for Staphylococcus aureus was 35%-64% and dropped to 0%-22% from a mixed culture with 10-times more Staphylococcus epidermidis than S. aureus. Microbial surface loads 30 min before and after the cleaning procedures were indistinguishable.

CONCLUSIONS: The quality-ensured screening procedure proved that adequate hygiene procedures are associated with a low overall colonization of surfaces and skin of healthcare workers. Unchanged microbial loads before and after surface disinfection demonstrated the low additional impact of this procedure in the endemic situation when the pathogen load prior to surface disinfection is already low.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Based on a validated screening system ensuring the interpretability and reliability of the results, the study confirms the efficiency of combined hand and surface hygiene procedures to guarantee low rates of bacterial colonization.