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Volume 169, Issue 11

spores tolerate disinfection with sodium hypochlorite disinfectant and remain viable within surgical scrubs and gown fabrics Open Access

This article is part of the Diversity in Microbiology collection.

Abstract

is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea globally. Its spores have been implicated in the prevalence of infection due to their resistance and transmission ability between surfaces. Currently, disinfectants such as chlorine-releasing agents (CRAs) and hydrogen peroxide are used to decontaminate and reduce the incidence of infections in clinical environments. Our previous research demonstrated the ability of spores to survive exposure to recommended concentrations of sodium dichloroisocyanurate in liquid form and within personal protective fabrics such as surgical gowns; however, the present study examined the spore response to clinical in-use concentrations of sodium hypochlorite. Spores were exposed to a 10 min contact time of 1000, 5000 and 10 000 p.p.m. sodium hypochlorite, and spore recovery was determined. To understand whether biocide-exposed spores transmitted across clinical surfaces , biocide-exposed spores were spiked onto surgical scrubs and patient gowns and recovery was determined by a plate transfer assay. Scanning electron microscopy was used to establish if there were any morphological changes to the outer spore coat. The results revealed that viable biocide-exposed spores can be recovered from surgical scrubs and patient gowns, with no observable changes to spore morphology, highlighting the potential of these fabrics as vectors of spore transmission. This study demonstrates that alternative strategies should be urgently sought to disinfect spores to break the chain of transmission in clinical environments.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): biocide , Clostridioides difficile , disinfectant , spores , tolerance and transmission
© 2023 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2023-11-21
2024-04-30
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http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001418
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Clostridioides difficile spores tolerate disinfection with sodium hypochlorite disinfectant and remain viable within surgical scrubs and gown fabrics
Microbiology 169, 001418 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001418
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001418
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001418
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