The authors review the main concepts regarding the importance of cleaning/disinfection of ultrasonography probes, aiming a better comprehension by practitioners and thus enabling strategies to establish a safe practice without compromising the quality of the examination and the operator productivity. In the context of biosafety, it is imperative to assume that contact with blood or body fluids ...

A significant number of hospital-acquired infections occur due to inefficient disinfection of hospital surfaces, instruments and rooms. The emergence and wide spread of multiresistant forms of several microorganisms has led to a situation where few compounds are able to inhibit or kill the infectious agents. Several strategies to disinfect both clinical equipment and the environment are availab...

Background and Objectives: The new CDC guideline for hand hygiene recommends either to use an antimicrobial soap or an alcohol-based hand rub supplemented with agents conferring persistent activity for surgical hand antisepsis. The most common agent which is thought to offer this latter type of effect is chlorhexidine gluconate. However, although often claimed, this effect has, to the best of o...

AIMS Devriesea agamarum infection causes chronic proliferative dermatitis, especially in desert dwelling lizards. The present study was concerned with evaluating persistency of D. agamarum in the environment and the evaluation of the efficacy of various disinfection procedures. METHODS AND RESULTS First, the survival of D. agamarum was assessed both in dermal crusts obtained from clinically a...

In previous studies we compared the relative value of alternative methods for disinfecting the hands of nurses and surgeons and the skin of operation sites, but a number of relevant questions were not considered. For disinfection of the operation site alcoholic solutions of chlorhexidine (0.5%) and iodine (1%) were found to be equally effective and superior to a number of other agents (Lowbury,...

Much cross-infection can be prevented by using chemical disinfectants to reduce the numbers of pathogens in sources such as superficial lesions and carrier sites, and by interrupting routes of spread. Examples are given to show the value of using disinfectants in the light of epidemiological knowledge.