Effectiveness of dry hydrogen peroxide in reducing air and surface bioburden in a multicenter clinical setting

Abstract

Abstract Objective: To determine the effectiveness of dry hydrogen peroxide (DHP) in reducing environmental bioburden in occupied areas. Design: Prospective environmental cohort study. Setting: The study was conducted in 2 tertiary-care hospitals and 1 free-standing emergency department. Intervention: Environmental air and surface sites were cultured before and after continuous deployment of DHP systems in targeted hospital areas. Methods: In total, 1,554 surface and 1,036 air samples were collected from 74 patient areas among the 3 facilities on 3 consecutive days before DHP deployment and on days 14, 30, 60, and 90 after deployment. At each sampling time, 2 air samples were collected at each facility from 1 room without DHP, along with 2 outdoor samples from each facility. The impact of negative-pressure usage on the efficacy of DHP was also evaluated, with 1 hospital continuously using negative pressure, another utilizing it only in patient isolation scenarios, and another without negative pressure. Results: In the 2 facilities without continuous negative pressure, exposure to DHP was associated with a significant reduction in surface bioburden, characterized as total colony-forming units (P = .019; P = .002). Significant associations between DHP exposure and reductions in airborne bacterial load at the 2 hospitals were observed (P ≤ .001; P = .041), and the free-standing emergency department experienced a reduction that did not achieve statistical significance (P = .073). Conclusions: Our findings confirm that DHP has the potential to reduce microbial air and surface bioburden in occupied patient rooms with standard ventilation parameters.