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- Benefits Of Disinfecting With UV Technology
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Healthcare facilities are adopting UV disinfection practices in the fight against HAIsAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately one in 25 hospital patients has at least one hospital acquired infection (HAI) on any given day. And although HAI rates are declining, many hospitals need to ramp up cleaning and disinfecting processes to control the spread of infection and reduce the risk of HAIs.听Some healthcare facilities are adopting ultraviolet (UV) technology as an adjunct to their terminal cleaning procedures 鈥� and the outcomes are promising.听鈥淯V light will pick up effectively where chemicals leave off,鈥� says Dennis Boyle, president of听, Danbury, Connecticut. 鈥淭he light penetrates the cell of the microorganism and completely disrupts its DNA, killing the cell on contact within a certain period of time.鈥漈here are two types of UV disinfection systems on the market: One uses a mercury vapor lamp and the other uses xenon, an environmentally friendly inert gas. Approximately 50 companies offer mercury UV technology; Xenex is the only company that offers pulsed xenon UV technology.鈥淲e鈥檝e managed to recreate UV-C, which normally doesn鈥檛 hit the earth, but bounces off the ozone layer,鈥� explains Daniel English, environmental services principal for听, San Antonio, Texas. 鈥淣ot only is it germicidal, but it鈥檚 showing incredible results on one of the toughest pathogens to kill, which is C.diff in spore state.鈥滽atherine Velez, a scientist at听听in Pleasanton, California, is seeing an increase in hospitals using UV-C. She says that the company鈥檚 UV disinfection system kills more than 30 HAI-causing pathogens in five minutes at a distance of eight feet, which includes a 4-log reduction of C.diff spores.鈥淚n a hospital, we recommend using it in areas like operating rooms, emergency rooms, patient rooms and restrooms, and intensive care and burn units,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or a patient room, we recommend three, five-minute cycles. One on each side of the patient bed and one five-minute cycle in the bathroom to make sure all high-touch areas are exposed to UV-C.鈥�
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