Evaluating the Utility of UV Lamps to Mitigate the Spread of Pathogens in the ICU

Abstract

Contaminated surfaces in a hospital serve as reservoirs for pathogen spread. The aim of this study was to evaluate UV lights in preventing the spread of a DNA tracer in an intensive care unit (ICU) through sterilization of highly touched surfaces. In a prospective trial, a non-pathogenic DNA virus was inoculated onto surfaces in an ICU patient room. Investigators swabbed frequently touched surfaces in non-inoculated ICU rooms at 24, 48, and 96 h post inoculation. Culture specimens were analyzed for the presence of viral DNA via PCR. After baseline data were obtained, UV lights were deployed in a standardized fashion onto vitals monitors, ventilators, keyboards, and intravenous (IV) pumps. Inoculation and culturing were then repeated. Prior to UV implementation, the DNA tracer disseminated to 10.10% of tested surfaces in non-inoculated rooms at 48 h. Post UV light deployment, only 1.20% of surfaces tested positive for the DNA tracer after 48 h. UV decontamination significantly retarded the spread of the virus DNA, with a relative reduction of 90% at 48 h from 10.10% of surfaces pre UV to 1.20% of surfaces post UV (p < 0.0001). UV decontamination holds the potential to confer protection to patients by reducing the number of surfaces that can serve as a nidus for transfer.

Advances in experimental and computational methodologies for the study of microbial-surface interactions at different omics levels

“…Other issues include the colonization of biotic tissues and hospital surfaces or devices causing medical complications ( Harding and Reynolds, 2014 ; Russotto et al, 2015 ; Li et al, 2020 ). Detrimental microorganisms can thrive in a myriad of clinical surfaces ( Cobrado et al, 2017 ), posing a serious risk to become a reservoir of hospital acquired infections ( Boyce, 2016 ; Gostine et al, 2020 ). More specifically, the colonization of medical devices that break the physical boundaries between the external environment and the internal human body space, leads to severe and life-threatening consequences for patients at Intensive Care Units ( Vickery et al, 2012 ; Vitális et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”