A UK district general hospital cleaning study: a comparison of the performance of ultramicrofibre technology with or without addition of a novel copper-based biocide with standard hypochlorite-based cleaning

Abstract

We compared the performance of an ultramicrofibre (UMF)-based system with or without a novel copper-based biocide (CuWB50) with standard cleaning using Actichlor Plus in four hospital wards in a crossover study design, and analysed our results using univariate and multivariate statistics. We measured total viable counts (TVCs) and ATP levels in 10 near-patient sites three times weekly, one hour before and after cleaning. Standard cleaning reduced TVCs further than UMF cleaning with water, but UMF cleaning with CuWB50 produced equivalent TVC reduction. Furthermore we identified a ‘residual effect’ with UMF + CuWB50, conferring TVC suppression for up to a week after application. ATP results did not correlate with TVCs. We conclude that UMF-based cleaning with CuWB50 results in TVC reductions equivalent to hypochlorite-based standard cleaning, with the added advantages of a residual effect that keeps TVCs lower between cleaning rounds.