Avantguard Inc. addresses the key role of hospital sinks in the spread of harmful pathogens, contributing to medically related infections and outbreak risks.
What can connect all the hospital rooms to allow patients to share the pathogens and serve as the ideal environment for the pathogens to grow and thrive? Piping system. Flushing the toilet on the sixth floor can cause a change in pressure that sends microscopic air bubbles containing pathogens into the room on the floor below.
Hoppital sinks pathogens in the port
Hospital sinks are ubiquitous and are essential to promote hygienic practices such as hand washing. However, it also serves as a conduit for waste collection and disposal. Depending on the facility, the sink may be exposed to a variety of waste types, such as drinks, sputs, animal or human blood, and even feces. Waste passing through the sink contains essential nutrients such as water, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which can help support the growth of pathogens and spread them to other environments. A study of sinks at four acute care hospitals in the US found that 25% (12/50) of sinks harbor fluoroquinolone-resistant Gram-negative bacteria.
Pathogens spread from the sink to nearby surfaces
Unfortunately, pathogens present in hospital sinks are not included in the plumbing system. Factors such as the depth of the drained basin and water flow can cause flow from the drain, allowing pathogens to spread to nearby surfaces. Regardless of the water flow in the sink, 30 seconds of running high or cold water from the faucet was sufficient to cause the spread of pathogens from the sink to adjacent environmental surfaces.
Linked to Outbreak
Hospital sinks are linked to disease outbreaks. A retrospective analysis of 552 intensive care units in Germany revealed that the risk of acquiring medical-related infections is higher in patients with room sinks compared to patients without sinks. Extended spectral beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiellaoxytoka suggests that it may colonize drainage drains for up to 3 years in an outbreak involving contaminated sinks.
Food safety too
The problem is not limited to hospitals. Food processing plants also face challenges with sinks and drainage, which serve as a connection to the outside world and sewer systems. Pathogens like Listeria are known to penetrate drainage.
Disinfection strategies will be put in place
In response to the outbreak or increase of healthcare-related infections associated with hospital sinks, some hospitals are implementing strategies such as replacing sinks and pipes regularly, installing heaters in drains to raise temperatures regularly, disinfecting more regularly, and killing pathogens, particularly by removing sinks from the abundant care units. These measures have helped to “reverse” the outbreak of disease, but may not be effective in preventing the accumulation of pathogens in the sink.
The difficulty of killing pathogens with sinks
The persistence of pathogens in drainage drains is often due to the establishment of biofilms, the microbial community wrapped within protective layers of organic matter. Sink continues to link with outbreaks, as biofilms are about 1,000 times more difficult to kill than microorganisms without biofilms. Eliminating biofilms requires (1) a high concentration of disinfectant or (2) extended contact times.
Currently available disinfectants at high concentrations of strong enough to kill biofilms in sinks can cause corrosion and their approach can be a problem. The currently available disinfectants rarely have EPA biofilm effectiveness claims in the billing set. One product is a chlorinated disinfectant made from NADCC, made from tablets using NADCC, as opposed to bleach and sodium hypochlorite. The product has a biofilm claim with a contact time of about 4,000 ppm of approximately 4 minutes. This is a higher level of chlorinated disinfectant than most users are comfortable for regular use on surfaces for fear of corrosion.
In this particular use case, it is also difficult to achieve contact times of several minutes. The verticality of the drains means it is difficult to hold the material on the surface. Many products have foam or gel-like mountings to extend wet contact times. Contact time while wet is important as currently available disinfectants lose effectiveness as soon as they dry out and must be applied repeatedly to maintain a pathogen-free environment.
Next-generation sink sanitizer
Avantguard’s new disinfectant, Avantamine, is non-corrosive at high concentrations and continues to provide permanent protection against recontamination for several days after drying. Avantamine can be implemented in gel-like consistency product formats that thoroughly cover the sink and drainage, killing the pathogen and its biofilm first, then leaving a long-term protective layer.
Avantamine is best described as what povidone does for chlorine to produce povidone iodine. Iodine tinctures are the only form of iodine and can be used to apply iodine to wounds or skin to kill pathogens. Povidone polymers were found to stabilize iodine, thus increasing the efficacy of iodine itself due to reduced non-specific activity. At the same time, povidone has made iodine safer for the skin by reducing irritation. Avantamine is a chlorine-stabilizing polymer. In a sense, bleach is a tincture of chlorine, and avantamine stabilizes chlorine to reduce non-specific activity, reducing the likelihood of corrosion and reducing the likelihood of skin irritation.
Furthermore, chlorine stabilization allows the chlorine to survive as is after drying. This means that avantamine can safely retain chlorine on surfaces for a long period of time. These enhanced attributes, reduced corrosion and residual activity are not the cost of efficacy, and avantamine has roughly the same pathogen-killing activity as bleaching agents.
Avantamine can come as a liquid or gel. Gel formulations are ideal for this application as they coat the surface during applications and provide the lifespan required for extended killing effects. As an antibacterial coating in drains, avantamine meets and exceeds the required test protocols of the US Environmental Protection Agency for residual disinfectants and protects the surface from pathogens for up to a week. Untreated avantamine can remain effective on environmental surfaces for more than a month.
The low corrosion and residual effects of avantamine combine to eradicate biofilms in sinks and drainage, creating products that provide several days of continuous protection against pathogen accumulation and ultimately transmission. Protecting sinks and drainage channels is just the first sign of this highly innovative bio-borne system that addresses the problem of bleach while retaining the effectiveness of bleach.
reference
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This article will also be featured in the 23rd edition of Quarterly Publication.
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