Disinfecting rooms with pulsed xenon ultraviolet light was linked to a reduction in intensive care unit-acquired Clostridium difficile infections in a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Researchers evaluated CDI rates, patient lengths of stay, room occupancy and number of days between a CDI case in a room and a hospital-acquired CDI case in the same patient room. They compared the rates for the first year after ultraviolet disinfection was implemented and compared the rates with the one-year period before UV disinfection was implemented.
All total, there were 525 CDI cases (including both hospital-acquired and community-acquired cases) throughout the study. Of those, 251 cases occurred during the UV disinfection period and 274 cases occurred during the pre-UV disinfection period.
Highlighted below are three findings from the study.
1. Hospital-acquired CDI incidence was 22 lower during the UV disinfect period compared with the pre-UV disinfection period.
2. The 22 percent reduction in hospital-acquired CDI was essentially caused by a highly significant 70 percent reduction of CDI in the adult ICUs and a 20 percent reduction in the larger population of adult non-ICUs.
3. The lower CDI incidence is particularly surprising considering there was an 18 percent increase in community-acquired CDI rates during the UV disinfection period.
According to the researchers, the findings suggest UV disinfection had an overall beneficial effect on the reduction of hospital-acquired CDI.
"These data also demonstrate the importance of monitoring community-acquired CDI and total CDI contact precautions days along with interventions that may affect hospital-acquired rates," concluded the study authors.
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