Clorox Healthcare voluntarily tested its Bleach Germicidal Wipes and Bleach Germicidal Cleaners to ensure they met updated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended standards, which emphasize sporicidal disinfectant efficacy. The two EPA-registered bleach disinfectants can kill Clostridium difficile spores in three minutes as well as fight emerging viral pathogens.
Here, Lori Strazdas, a public health and safety specialist at Clorox Healthcare, discusses best infection prevention practices to fight off both C. diff and these new pathogens, as well as how Clorox Healthcare is contributing to safeguarded patient environments.
Question: Why did Clorox Healthcare re-test its Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Wipes and Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Cleaners using updated EPA recommended standards? How will the bleach germicidal disinfectants enhancements positively impact patient safety?
Lori Strazdas: Preventing Clostridium difficile infections presents a serious challenge, even for healthcare facilities with the most robust infection control protocols. This is in part because C. diff and other spore-forming bacteria are resilient to many chemical disinfectants, making them among the most difficult microorganisms to kill on en¬vironmental surfaces. Most C. diff infection prevention guidelines recommend the use of an Envi¬ronmental Protection Agency-registered disinfectant with sporicidal claims on environmental surfaces and medical equip¬ment in areas housing C. diff patients.1 In 2014, the EPA updated its guidance related to C. diff micro-efficacy testing to include using a clinically relevant C. diff strain and encouraged testing to be done in the presence of a three-part organic soil load.
The 2014 EPA guideline is currently only required for new reg¬istrations, but Clorox Healthcare voluntarily tested two of its leading ready-to-use bleach disinfectants, Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Wipes and Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Cleaners, using the new guidelines, including the three-part organic soil load, because they present a more challenging, but realistic, scenario for disinfecting efficacy. In other words, Clorox Healthcare believed it was the right thing to do. In practice, the pre-cleaning step is still required, but any product that has passed this test offers users an extra level of assurance that the product will not fail if soil is present.
Q: Do you believe it is imperative for healthcare facilities to focus on protecting against emerging threats, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, while still maintaining the same level of defense against common cause of HAIs? Do most organizations already have a handle of the spectrum of the threats?
LS: Today’s healthcare facilities need environmental infection control strategies that can address a range of threats, from the most common healthcare-associated infection-causing pathogens like C. diff, to emerging viral pathogens. Most healthcare facilities understand what is at stake if their chosen surface disinfectant does not effectively kill C. diff, which can not only have serious implications for patient safety, but also carry significant financial consequences for facilities. A study of 170,000 discharges from 477 hospitals from 2009 to 2011 calculated that a single case of C. diff-associated diarrhea can increase a hospital stay by 4.7 days and add $7,286 to hospital costs.2
However, as healthcare facilities work to reduce C. diff, they also need to be prepared for emerging threats like MERS-CoV which has caused large hospital outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and South Korea. While the risk posed by emerging infectious diseases may seem less immediate, the reality is that in our increasingly global and interconnected society, healthcare facilities can’t be sure what pathogens might come through their doors next.
Q: What are some best infection prevention practices facilities should consider to ensure they are offering optimally safeguarded patient environments?
LS: In today’s ever-changing healthcare landscape, it is important to remember that the threats healthcare facilities face are evolving too and that infection prevention protocols need to evolve with them. Take for example Candida auris, an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast causing invasive HAIs with high mortality, which the CDC first identified in U.S. hospitals last fall. Recently, the CDC revised its recommendation for C. auris infection control measures to include thorough daily and after-discharge cleaning of rooms of C. auris patients using EPA-registered hospital disinfectants effective against C. diff, such as Clorox Healthcare bleach germicidal disinfectants. The previous recommendation was to use a hospital disinfectant effective against fungi.
In light of the challenges presented by both common HAI-causing pathogens and emerging infectious disease risks, many healthcare facilities are re-evaluating their infection prevention strategies and opting to expand the use of sporicidal disinfectants, which offer broad-spectrum efficacy for a more comprehensive approach to environmental infection control.
Lori Strazdas is a public health and safety specialist with Clorox Healthcare, where she supports scientific and clinical research, education as well as product design and development.
References
1. Dubberke, E. R. et al. Strategies to Prevent Clostridium difficile Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Update. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2014, 35 (6), 628–645.
2. Magee G, et al. “Impact of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea on acute care length of stay, hospital costs, and readmission: A multicenter retrospective study of inpatients, 2009-2011. Am J Infect Control 2015;11:1148-1153.
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