In the face of competition from copycat products, DCCL - manufacturer of residual biocide-treated disposable cubicle curtains – decided to take proactive measures to prove its curtains’ efficacy. Research organisation Campden BRI was selected to provide independent verification, and the results were conclusive: DCCL’s impregnated curtain material inhibits the growth of MRSA, E. coli and VRE.
Hospital hygiene never seems to be far from the headlines these days. High profile cases of MRSA and C.difficile infections occurring within hospitals have catapulted the issue into the public agenda. Consequently, healthcare provider-to-patient transfer of these and other microbial infections has come under the spotlight.
Basic hygiene, such as washing hands between patients, is now far more rigorously enforced in hospitals. However, more recently attention has turned to a wider range of materials that can harbour, and potentially grow, microbes. These include the clothing of healthcare professionals, patient notes and the curtains used to separate patient cubicles, to name a few.
Cubicle curtains unavoidably come into contact with a wide range of microorganisms and it is standard NHS practice to wash or replace them on a six-monthly basis. DCCL has developed a disposable curtain for use in hospitals and GP surgeries that eliminates the risk of growth of certain microbes throughout this six monthly rotation.
The fabric is treated with a residual biocide which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. However, with a glut of cubicle curtains on the market claiming ‘antimicrobial’ properties, DCCL’s Chairman Peter Gardner decided that there was a need for scientific proof. He resolved to commission independent testing to substantiate the claims made for DCCL’s disposable cubicle curtains.
Realising that healthcare procurement departments would only accept certification from a trusted source, Gardner involved several leading academic and NHS microbiologists in the selection of a research organisation. All paths led him to Campden BRI and the Hygiene Department undertook the research earlier this year.
“We needed to work with an independent research organisation whose processes and reputation would stand up to the scrutiny of our customers,” Gardner explains. “Campden BRI measured up on both counts. We had every confidence in our curtains and decided that to ensure the tests were as rigorous as possible, both new curtains and curtains that had been used in a hospital for six months should be assessed.”
Campden BRI’s Dr Karen Middleton headed up the research project. Her team conducted two sets of tests, initially focusing on the residual biocide itself and then the new and used curtains.
The quantitative suspension test EN 1276 was used to evaluate the biocidal treatment’s bactericidal activity against the four standard test microorganisms: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus hirae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. This test method proved conclusively that the treatment met the disinfectant criteria specified by the EU.
The next stage involved the Kirby Bauer test method to assess the efficacy of the curtain fabric. Agar plates were inoculated with three test microorganisms:
Escherichia coli
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE)
Samples of new treated, six month old (used) treated and new untreated curtain fabric were placed ‘treated side down’ on the inoculated agar, and the plates were incubated overnight. The results showed that the new, treated curtain fabric led to an effective zone of inhibition against all three microorganisms. In addition, the six month old, used curtain fabric also had a significant zone of inhibition in relation to MRSA.
“Our tests prove that the impregnated fabric inhibits microbial growth,” says Dr Middleton. "Testing the efficacy of disinfectants and anti-microbials is an area in which we have significant expertise - and we have, in fact, contributed to the development of internationally recognised test methods."
In the face of competition from copycat products, DCCL - manufacturer of residual biocide-treated disposable cubicle curtains – decided to take proactive measures to prove its curtains’ efficacy. Research organisation Campden BRI was selected to provide independent verification, and the results were conclusive: DCCL’s impregnated curtain material inhibits the growth of MRSA, E. coli and VRE.