Comparative Effectiveness of Disinfectants With Phenol on Multidrug Resistant Bacteria and Fungi Isolated From the Clinical Sample – An in Vitro Preliminary Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) microorganism infections has generated considerable attention in the recent past. The primary goal of infection control procedures is to prevent cross contamination between patients as well as between patients and health care providers. This can be achieved by the safe disposal of body fluids and cultures having such microorganisms from the hospital ward and laboratory.This study aimed at comparing the efficacy of commercially available disinfectants on microorganisms isolated from clinical samples. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Four commonly used disinfectants namely Savlon, 70% Ethanol, Dettol and Lysol were tested for their Antibacterial and Anti fungal effects against multidrug resistant bacteria and fungi isolated from clinical samples from inpatients admitted to Sri Siddhartha Medical College Hospital, Tumkur. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) microorganisms E. coli, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, C. albicans, A. niger and A flavus isolated from clinical samples were used for testing the effectiveness of disinfectants. Agar Welldiffusion method using Mueller Hinton Agar and Modified Muller Hinton agar was used to assess the effectiveness of disinfectants. Phenol was considered to be the standard disinfectant to which other disinfectants were compared. The zone of inhibition (ZOI) for each isolate was measured. These were compared to the ZOI of Phenol (40mm). The results were statistically analyzed by descriptive statistical methods. RESULTS: The ZOI against S. aureus and E. coli of Savlon was 33mm & 34mm and for Dettol 38mm & 37mm, respectively. But for K. pneumoniae the ZOI was 29mm & 30mm and for P. aeruginosa was 24mm and 30mm for Savlon and Dettol, respectively. The ZOI for 70% ethanol ranged from 32mm to 34 mm on all the isolates. The ZOI for Lysol ranged from 22mm to 24mm on isolates. CONCLUSION: The disinfectants --Savlon and Dettol can be used as alternatives to phenol and sodium hypochloride solution to manage liquid spills in small health care settings. And agar well diffusion method can be used to assess the effectiveness of disinfectants, used in the hospitals to have quality control on the disinfectants.