Summary
A handheld disinfection device using far UV-C light effectively reduces harmful bacteria on hospital surfaces, making it a useful alternative when traditional cleaning methods are not feasible.
Key points
- The FFUV handheld device significantly reduces microbial pathogens on hospital surfaces.
- It achieved an estimated 81.4% reduction in colony counts compared to manual disinfection.
- The device is particularly useful when manual disinfection is not feasible.
- FFUV can supplement traditional cleaners and disinfectants.
Abstract
**Background: ** The filtered far-UV-C (FFUV) handheld disinfection device is a small portable device that emits far UV-C at 222 nm. The objective of this study was to evaluate the device's ability to kill microbial pathogens on hospital surfaces and compare it to manual disinfection using germicidal sodium hypochlorite wipes.
**Methods: ** A total of 344 observations (4 observations from 86 objects' surfaces) were sampled with 2 paired samples per surface: a pre- and a post-sodium hypochlorite and FFUV sample. The results were analyzed via a Bayesian multilevel negative binomial regression model.
**Results: ** The estimated mean colony counts for the sodium hypochlorite control and treatment groups were 20.5 (95% uncertainty interval: 11.7-36.0) and 0.1 (0.0-0.2) colony forming units (CFUs), respectively. The FFUV control and treatment groups had mean colony counts of 22.2 (12.5-40.1) and 4.1 (2.3-7.2) CFUs. The sodium hypochlorite group and the FFUV group had an estimated 99.4% (99.0%-99.7%) and 81.4% (76.2%-85.7%) reduction in colony counts, respectively.
**Conclusions: ** The FFUV handheld device effectively reduced the microbial bioburden on surfaces in the health care setting. The major benefit of FFUV is likely seen when manual disinfection is not possible or when supplementing cleaners or disinfectants with the low-level disinfection properties.
**Keywords: ** Disinfection; Environmental surfaces; Health care–associated infections; Infection prevention; Microorganisms; UV device.
Published by Elsevier Inc.
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