Efficacy of an automated ultraviolet C device in a shared hospital bathroom.
Toilet flushing can contribute to disease transmission by generating aerosolized bacteria and viruses that can land on nearby surfaces or follow air currents. Aerobic and anaerobic bacterial bioaerosol loads, and bacterial counts on 2 surfaces in a bathroom with a permanently installed, automated ultraviolet C (UVC) irradiation device, were significantly lower than in a comparable bathroom without the UVC device. Permanently installed UVC lights may be a useful supplementary decontamination tool in shared patient bathrooms.
['Cooper|Jesse|J|', 'Bryce|Elizabeth|E|', 'Astrakianakis|George|G|', 'Stefanovic|Aleksandra|A|', 'Bartlett|Karen|K|']
D000336:Aerosols D000391:Air Microbiology D001331:Automation D004203:Disinfection D004783:Environmental Microbiology D006761:Hospitals D006801:Humans D014038:Toilet Facilities D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
Ultraviolet C bathroom bioaerosol contact surface environmental cleaning toilet plume