Examinations with transvaginal ultrasound probes (TVUP) are part of the daily routine in gynaecological and obstetric practice. To prevent patients from becoming infected with pathogens such as human papillomavirus (HPV) or chlamydia through contaminated TVUP, they must be properly reprocessed after each use. Bactericidal, levurocidal and virucidal efficacy should be considered, including parts of the device that are difficult to access [1]. Manual wipe disinfection, preferred by many facilities, is quick, easy and inexpensive, but has recently been considered non-validatable [2, 3]. This poses major challenges for gynaecological practices and clinics: In future, they will have to reprocess their TVUP (partially) mechanically or by immersion disinfection, which is associated with increased costs, more time and possibly wear and tear, and does not exempt them from manual pre-cleaning [1, 4].
The HARTMANN SCIENCE CENTER, together with the Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, has therefore developed an approach to support facilities in the validation of their manual methods. This has now been published in Hygiene & Medicine and shows that standardised wipe disinfection with Mikrobac® Virucidal Tissues with a defined wipe duration, number of wipes and procedure sufficiently reduces the test germs Enterococcus hirae, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and polyomavirus SV40 – namely bacteria by ≥99.999% and fungi as well as viruses by ≥99.99% [5].
Use biocidal products carefully. Always read the label and product information before use.
