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Acta Médica Costarricense

On-line version ISSN 0001-6002Print version ISSN 0001-6012

Abstract

LARA-FERNANDEZ, Gloria Esther et al. Ozone a method of disinfection of the environment of hospitals. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2020, vol.62, n.2, pp.72-78. ISSN 0001-6002.

Background and aim:

Health care-associated infections raise costs, prolong hospital stays and increase mortality, making environmental disinfection necessary as a method of reducing this problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the use of ozone for environmental disinfection in areas of high hospital risk.

Methods:

An intervention was carried out to disinfect the environment with the use of ozone equipment in high-risk areas of the Cuban Institute of Neurology an Neurosurgery and the result was evaluated using the following variables: environmental microbiological status, number of deaths in general and for sepsis, and consumption of antibiotics from January to June 2019.

Results:

Of the 12 areas evaluated, prior to the application of ozone, taking into account the number of colony forming units per m3, 2 were classified as unacceptable, 3 as an acceptable environment and 7 as a clean environment . After the ozone application, the results of the 12 areas showed a very clean environment. Antibiotic use decreased to a third in the exposed areas evaluated and rose in the unexposed areas. There were fewer deaths than in a similar period of the year prior to the intervention.

Conclusions:

Environmental disinfection with ozone in high-risk hospital areas is useful to generate clean environments, and favor the decrease in antibiotic consumption and mortality due to infections associated with healthcare.

Keywords : Disinfection; ozone; microbiology; in-hospital infections..

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