Hydrogen peroxide bio-decontamination technology is one of the hot topics at this year?s Infection Prevention Society annual conference. Six scientific posters are being presented on HPV at Infection Prevention 2011, held at the Bournemouth International Centre 19-21 September.

Commenting on this latest research, James Salkeld Head of Healthcare at Bioquell said, "It is good to see that hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) technology continues to have significant scientific support. Many technologies claiming to eradicate pathogens that cause healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) do not have a robust scientific argument. It is important for healthcare professional to understand the differences between technologies that have been „proven? in practice and those that simply infer success from unrelated or unpublished work."

The posters include reports of controlling outbreaks and endemic cases of Clostridium difficile and in vitro evaluations of the activity of HPV against key hospital pathogens. Two posters (from Gloucester and Scarborough) show that including Bioquell's HPV process in a bundle of interventions successfully reduced the incidence of C. difficile. A poster from Lewisham reports the successful control of an outbreak of an unusual clone of C. difficile associated with the introduction of Bioquell?s HPV process.

Posters evaluating the in vitro efficacy of Bioquell?s HPV technology include a study from Derby demonstrating that HPV is superior to bleach for the inactivation of C. difficile, a study from the University of Minnesota showing that HPV is effective against feline calicivirus (a norovirus surrogate) and a study from Great Ormond Street in London establishing the efficacy of HPV against adenovirus, Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli.

The six posters include topics on:

• Successful reduction in the burden of C. difficile at a large NHS Trust through a bundle of interventions
• Clostridium difficile 027 - The Scarborough experience
• The use of hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination in an NHS hospital to tackle repeated clusters of Clostridium difficile 017 in a care of the elderly ward
• A comparison of traditional and advanced technological methods effective against Clostridium difficile spores
• Survival of Nosocomial Bacteria, viruses and viral DNA on ceramic surfaces when exposed to Hydrogen Peroxide Vapour
• Hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) inactivation of feline calicivirus, a surrogate for norovirus - an update
  

Infection Prevention 2011 is organised by the Infection Control Society and full details can be found at http://infectionpreventionconference.org.uk including full copies of the poster abstracts.