Journal of Hospital Infection
Volume 80, Issue 3 , Pages 262-264, March 2012

High level disinfection of a home care device; to boil or not to boil?

  • K.L. Winthrop

      Affiliations

    • Division of Infectious Diseases, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Address: Mailcode CEI, Oregon Health and Science University, 3375 SW Terwilliger Blvd, Portland, OR 97239, USA. Tel.: +1 (503) 494 2575; fax: +1 (503) 494 2486.
    • ,
  • N. Homestead

      Affiliations

    • Meagan Medical, Inc., Vancouver, WA, USA

Received 9 June 2011; accepted 30 December 2011. published online 25 January 2012.

by J.A. Child

Summary 

We developed a percutaneous electrical transducer for home therapy of chronic pain, a device that requires high level disinfection between uses. The utility of boiling water to provide high level disinfection was evaluated by inoculating transducer pads with potential skin pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium terrae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans) and subjecting them to full immersion in water boiling at 4200 feet elevation (95°C). Log10 reductions in colony-forming units (cfu) at 10min were 7.1, >6.3 and >5.5 for S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans, respectively, but only 4.6 for M. terrae. At 15min the reductions had increased to 7.5, >6.8, >6.6 and >7.5cfu, respectively.

Keywords: Boiling, High level disinfection, Home medical device, Percutaneous device, Thermal disinfection

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PII: S0195-6701(12)00017-5

doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2011.12.018

Journal of Hospital Infection
Volume 80, Issue 3 , Pages 262-264, March 2012

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