Timely insights on whole room disinfection.
HospitalsApril 21, 2016
Whole Room Disinfectant Fogging Kills C. diff
Rising infections put patients at risk
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes Clostridioides difficile for what it is: a preventable infection that makes half a million Americans sick each year, killing 29,000 of them.
In an effort to save lives, the CDC has set a goal of reducing C. diff by 30 percent by 2020.
Still infections are on the rise, up 4 percent, according to the agency’s most recent data. That is dreadful news for patients because patients who acquire C. diff while in the hospital are four times more likely to die than those who don’t contract the disease.
Patients typically don’t know what ailed the patient who occupied their hospital bed before they did.
We think that if patients were aware they had been assigned to a room where the previous patient had C. diff, they would insist on going somewhere else.
Patients also aren’t privy to what methods were used to disinfect the surfaces in their room.
We believe that if patients had an option they would choose a hospital that has invested in whole-room fogging system, a hands-free method that disinfects all the surfaces in a room, including nooks and crannies that traditional cleaning methods often miss.
C. diff can survive on hard surfaces for as long as five months. That includes surfaces frequently touched by patients, such as bedrails, call buttons and toilet seats.
Traditional manual cleaning, fraught with human error, is no match for C. diff and its rugged spore.
The Halo Disinfection System ® by Halosil International was the first whole room aerosolized hydrogen peroxide fogging system approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Halo system has and EPA registered six-log kill claim on its label, meaning it eliminates 99.9999% of C. diff spores, as well as other dangerous pathogens.
Like the CDC, we want to see the rate of C. diff infections go down, not up. Disinfecting rooms with the Halo Disinfection System is a significant step in the right direction.