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Cold-Air Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Against Clostridium difficile Spores: A Potential Alternative for the Decontamination of Hospital Inanimate Surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2015

Tânia Claro*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Orla J. Cahill
Affiliation:
School of Electronic Engineering and National Centre for Plasma Science Technology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Niall O’Connor
Affiliation:
School of Electronic Engineering and National Centre for Plasma Science Technology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Stephen Daniels
Affiliation:
School of Electronic Engineering and National Centre for Plasma Science Technology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Hilary Humphreys
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Department of Microbiology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
*
Address correspondence to Tânia Claro, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Education and Research Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland (tpedrosaclaro@rcsi.ie).

Abstract

Clostridium difficile spores survive for months on environmental surfaces and are highly resistant to decontamination. We evaluated the effect of cold-air plasma against C. difficile spores. The single-jet had no effect while the multi-jet achieved 2–3 log10 reductions in spore counts and may augment traditional decontamination.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2015;00(0):1–3

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
© 2015 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

Presented in part: 9th Healthcare Infection Society International Congress; Lyon, France; November, 2014.Received November 24, 2014; accepted February 5, 2015

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