Use of Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor for Deactivation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a Biological Safety Cabinet and a Room

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important human pathogen that is routinely cultured in clinical and research laboratories. M. tuberculosis can contaminate surfaces and is highly resistant to disinfection. We investigated whether hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) is effective for the deactivation of M. tuberculosis on experimentally contaminated surfaces in a biological safety cabinet (BSC) and a room. Biological indicators (BIs) consisting of an ϳ3-log 10 inoculum of M. tuberculosis on stainless steel discs and a 6-log 10 inoculum of Geobacillus stearothermophilus were exposed to HPV in BSC time course experiments and at 10 locations during room experiments. In three separate BSC experiments, M. tuberculosis BIs were transferred to growth media at 15-min intervals during a 180-min HPV exposure period. No M. tuberculosis BIs grew following 30 min of HPV exposure. In three separate room experiments, M. tuberculosis and G. stearothermophilus BIs were exposed to HPV for 90, 120, and 150 min, respectively. BIs for both microorganisms were deactivated in all 10 locations following 90 min of HPV exposure. HPV provides an alternative to traditional decontamination methods, such as formaldehyde fumigation, for laboratories and other areas contaminated with M. tuberculosis.

Vapor Phase Hydrogen Peroxide – Method for Decontamination of Surfaces and Working Areas from Organic Pollutants

“…Some authors say that the antimicrobial activity grows with higher concentration of gaseous hydrogen peroxide, others express a completely opposite opinion and prefer the microbial deactivation at lower concentrations (Unger-Bimczok et al, 2008). In Table 4, all microorganisms tested for VPHP inactivation are summarized (Forney et al, 1991;Hall et al, 2007;Heckert et al, 1997;Johnston et al, 2005;Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Kokubo et …”

“…These buildings were contaminated by Anthrax spores released from "Anthrax letters" by terroristic attacks in the USA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2005). In the literature (Block, 1991;Heckert et al, 1997;Johnston et al, 2005;Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Roberts et al, 2006), there are numerous applications of VPHP in the decontamination of fermenters, dialysers, incubators, isolators (Fisher & Caputo, 2004;Lysfjord & Porter, www.intechopen.com Organic Pollutants Ten Years After the Stockholm Convention -Environmental and Analytical Update 406 1998), glove boxes, hazard boxes (Hall et al, 2007), animal houses (Kahnert et al, 2005;Krause et al, 2001), hospital wards (French et al, 2004;Hardy et al, 2007), inner space of airplanes (Krieger & Mielnik, 2005;Shaffstall et al, 2011), ambulances, various large spaces (Krause et al, 2001), lyophylisators (Johnson et al, 1992), ultra centrifuges, sterilization tests (Kokubo et al, 1998), product and pipe lines (Hatanaka & Schibauchi, 1989), dental and surgery instruments (catheters, endoscopes, etc.) (Bathina et al, 1998), contact lenses, hardware space systems (Chung et al, 2008), and food commodities (Forney et al, 1991;Gruhn et al, 1995;Sapers et al, 2003;Simmons et al, 1997).…”

“…Several works tested the resistivity of commonly-used devices to VPHP but the results were evaluated only visually and by testing of functionality of the devices. Generally, it was concluded that VPHP was an acceptable sterilization method for the devices (Hall et al, 2007;Heckert et al, 1997). In global, materials can be divided into four groups according to their tolerance to VPHP.…”

“…Similarly as in its liquid solution, hydrogen peroxide also has sterilization properties in the vapor phase against vegetative bacteria and highly resistant bacteria endospores (Block, 1991;French et al, 2004;Hall et al, 2007;Johnston et al, 2005;Kahnert et al, 2005;Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Kokubo et al, 1998;Rogers et al, 2005;Sapers et al, 2003;Unger-Bimczok et al, 2008), viruses (Heckert et al, 1997), fungi (Forney et al, 1991), yeast, amoebae, infective proteins and other microorganisms (Fichet et al, 2004;Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Vassal et al, 1998). As a model organism for the validation, Bacillus stearothermophilus ( Geobacillus stearothermophilus) which is mainly deposited on stainless steel is commonly used (Block, 1991;Bounoure et al, 2006;Chung et al, 2008, Fisher & Caputo, 2004Johnston et al, 2005;Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Unger et al, 2007).…”

Inactivation ofFrancisella tularensisSchu S4 in a Biological Safety Cabinet Using Hydrogen Peroxide Fumigation

“…Moreover, hydrogen peroxide fumigation does not appear to damage materials or sensitive equipment (French et al, 2004;Rogers et al, 2005). Therefore, hydrogen peroxide fumigation has been used for decontaminating laboratories and laboratory equipment (Klapes & Vesley, 1990;Kahnert et al, 2005;Hall et al, 2007), medically-implanted wires (Fichet et al, 2004) and medical equipment (Andersen et al, 2006), hospital rooms (French et al, 2004), biological safety cabinets (Hillman, 2004), and animal holding rooms (Krause et al, 2001). The present study demonstrates that F. tularensis Schu S4 is inactivated on various material surfaces when exposed to VHP fumigation in a BSC III.…”