Infection control practices of general dental practitioners.

4 " 6 sodium hypochlorite, 4 and iodophor disinfectants. 16 In only one of these studies was a hydrogen peroxide compound tested. Saurina et al 4 tested 3% hydrogen peroxide against eight vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus fae-cium using a standard quantitative suspension test and found that insufficient kill occurred at the 3-and 10-minute test times. We too have tested not only E faecium (vancomycin-sensitive and-resistant) but also Enterococcus faecalis (vancomycin-sensitive and-resistant), Enterococcus gallinarum, and Enterococcus casseliflavus in the standard Association of Official Analytical Chemists suspension system 7 and found that 10-minute exposure to 3% hydrogen peroxide did not always kill the enterococci. We also tested these same microorganisms in the standard test against a product that is a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, and acetic acid (Spor-Klenz; Calgon Vestal Division, Steris Corp, St Louis, MO) and found that all ente-rococci were killed in the 10-minute standard test time. We then tried testing the efficacy of this product against enterococci on various hospital fabrics, because we were interested in being able to "spot disinfect" items such as drapes in patients rooms. Four types of fabrics were tested: 100% cotton (clothing), 100% cotton terry (towels), 60% cotton-40% polyester blend (scrub suits), and 100% polyester (drapes). Small swatches of fabric were contaminated with 10 6 colony-forming units of these enterococci and allowed to dry. Half of the fabrics were sprayed with Spor-Klenz, and the other half were left untreated. At 10 minutes after spraying, all samples (treated and untreated) were put into growth medium, and the medium was checked for growth at 48 hours. All of the control swatches, which were untreated, showed growth. However, none of the samples sprayed with the hydrogen peroxide-peracetic-acetic acid mixture showed growth for any of the 19 different enterococci tested on any of the four fabrics. These studies indicate that the hydrogen peroxide-peracetic-acetic acid mixture provides an additional option that meets standards, as well as our laboratory fabric test, for ente-rococcal control. REFERENCES 1. Anderson RL. Susceptibility of vancomycin-resistant enterococci to environmental disinfectants. To the Editor: I share the concerns of John Hardie 1 published in the December 1998 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology concerning hand washing, use of gloves, and risks for transmission of infectious disease between patients and dentists. Hidden video cameras have shown that dentists wash their hands 23% of times before donning gloves and change gloves 56% of times between patients. 2 …