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. 2022 Jun;14(2):217-221.
doi: 10.1007/s12560-022-09519-y. Epub 2022 Mar 20.

Use of a Hydrogen Peroxide Nebulizer for Viral Disinfection of Emergency Ambulance and Hospital Waiting Room

Affiliations

Use of a Hydrogen Peroxide Nebulizer for Viral Disinfection of Emergency Ambulance and Hospital Waiting Room

Marie Estienney et al. Food Environ Virol. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Disinfection of hospital facilities and ambulances is an important issue for breaking the chain of transmission of viral pathogens. Hydrogen peroxide has provided promising results in laboratory assays. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a hydrogen peroxide nebulizer for the inactivation of surrogate MS2 bacteriophage and murine norovirus (MNV) in a patient waiting room and the fully equipped cabin of a medical ambulance. We observed an average 3 log10 titer reduction in both settings, which represents the destruction of over 106 and 109 infectious particles of MNV and MS2 per cm2, respectively. The potential for viral exposure is high for health workers when disinfecting confined and cluttered spaces, so the use of a hydrogen peroxide mist might offer an affordable and efficient solution to minimize the risk of viral contaminations.

Keywords: Ambulance; Hospital room; Hydrogen peroxide; Sanitation; Virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Romain Rouleau is an employee of Oxy’Pharm, which manufactures and sells the nebulizer under the name “Nocospray.” The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cabin interior of an emergency pediatric ambulance with nebulizer located at the bottom right corner. Viral surrogates were placed on top shelf, under, and beneath the stretcher (red circle). Blue square indicates the sweep for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome. White and black asterisks show locations of the test strips. Certain spots designated for test strips and sweep are not visible on the picture

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