Further bacteriological evaluation of the TOUL mobile system delivering ultra-clean air over surgical patients and instruments

The Journal of Hospital Infection
M Thore, L G Burman

Abstract

Two mobile TOUL-400 units (types 1 and 2) that produce an exponential ultra-clean air flow (EUA) via a mobile screen were evaluated (maximum height from floor to centre of screen: type 1, 1.4m; type 2, 1.6m). Bacterial deposition rates were lowered by >60% (P=0.001) over a table area of 1.7 m (length)x1.0m (width) with the TOUL-400 type 1 unit, and the mean air count at 1.0m from the screen was reduced from 23 to 1.6 colony-forming units (CFU)/m3 in experiments in a room with six air changes/h (ACH). The corresponding reductions were two- to three-fold greater in an operating room (OR) with 16 ACH due to higher bacterial contamination levels in the control experiments. The dramatic but localized reduction of the deposition rate recorded on one 14-cm settle plate (>2376-fold at 0.8m from the screen in the OR) apparently reflected the focus of the EUA. The impact of the TOUL-400 unit was underestimated by almost 100-fold by the air counts of bacteria recorded in parallel at the same sampling point (26.5-fold reduction). During sham coronary angiography and sham hip arthroplasty performed in a room with six ACH, ultra-clean air (<10 CFU/m3) was obtained over the incision area with the TOUL-400 type 2 unit when the EUA was undistur...Continue Reading

References

Jun 1, 1982·The Journal of Hospital Infection·W WhyteJ Tinkler
Feb 16, 2002·The Journal of Hospital Infection·H Humphreys, E W Taylor
Feb 15, 2003·The Journal of Hospital Infection·A P FraiseD Burfoot
Apr 28, 2004·Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology : the Official Journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America·Mikael Persson, Jan van der Linden

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Citations

Dec 17, 2009·Surgical Infections·Stefania FerrettiGiuliano Ezio Sansebastiano
Mar 12, 2020·Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene·Dylan A StaufferStella Capoccia

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