spraying disinfectant on cloths to immersing cloths in a bucket of disinfec-tant; educating staff about drug-resistant bacteria; and using ultraviolet (UV) lights to check for cleanliness, the story noted. The study concluded that an enhanced cleaning regimen helped lower MRSA infection rates from 3.9 per-cent out of 1,454 patients to 1.5 percent out of 1,443 patients, the story added. June 24, 2009—VICTORIA, BC, Canada— The Saanich Peninsula Hospital is struggling to contain a dead-ly outbreak of C. diff that has killed one and infected 14 others, according to the Globe and Mail . The issue of hospital cleaning has raised many eyebrows since British Columbia privatized housekeeping services in 2003; to address concerns, an independent cleaning auditor has been brought in to ensure British Columbia hospitals are maintaining adequate standards, the story noted. A new threat surfaced in 2009: The H1N1 influenza A virus, also know as swine flu. In late April, the virus hit a Texas school and CM e-News Daily ran the following under a disconcert-ing headline, “Swine flu fears close school district for a week”: April 30, 2009—RIO GRANDE CITY, TX— Rio Grande City School District officials have closed all district schools and encouraged the nearly 10,000 stu-dents in the district to stay home amid fears of swine flu, according to The Brownsville Herald . Custodians are taking advantage of the school closings by sanitizing and disinfecting common areas and high-touch surfaces throughout each school, the story noted. Some custodians have decided to leave the thermostat at 62 degrees through the weekend in an effort to kill off any germs left behind, the story added. As these threats continued, the JanSan industry was hard at work looking for solutions; product tech-nology continued to impress. Cleaning with saturated steam vapor was one breakthrough in the infection control field: February 25, 2009—SEATTLE— Groundbreaking research published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control validates a new surface disinfection process that may one day replace chemical disinfec-tants in hospitals, according to a press release. The process incorporates a saturated steam vapor system with Thermal Accelerated Nano Crystal Sanitation (TANCS) technology, harnessing the power of steam to eradicate antibiotic-resistant bacteria, viruses and fungi on surfaces in less than five seconds, the release stated. In the study, “ Reduction in Infection Risk Through Treatment of Microbially Circle Product Information no. 208 on page 32 CM B2B Trade Group ™ Directory 2010 7
CMM – Archives Dec 2009: 7
