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Airborne contamination in an operating suite: report of a five-year survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

Asakatsu Suzuki ,
Yoshimichi Namba ,
Masaji Matsuura  and
Akiko Horisawa
Asakatsu Suzuki
Affiliation:
Department of Surgical Operation
Yoshimichi Namba
Affiliation:
Department of Surgical Operation
Masaji Matsuura
Affiliation:
Department of Anaesthesiology, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan
Akiko Horisawa
Affiliation:
Department of Surgical Operation
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Summary

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Airborne contamination in an operating suite was studied with a slit sampler, settle plates and a light-scattering particle counter. In conventional operating rooms there was a significant difference between the empty rooms and rooms in use; the mean total bacterial count by a slit sampler changed from 1·1 in empty to 42·5 c.f.u./m3 in use (39 times increase), the settle plates count changed from 1·5 to 17·4 c.f.u./m2/min (12 times increase), and the mean total particle count changed from 56·9 to 546·7/1 (10 times increase) respectively. The increase was caused mainly by persons present in the room.

Another difference was found between zones in the operating suite; the bacterial count in the clean area doubled in the semi-clean area and further doubled in the dirty area in slit sampler count as well as settle plates count, and particle count in the clean area increased by 14 times in the semi-clean and dirty areas. This difference resulted from the different quality of the ventilating system.

Air cleanliness of operating rooms in use by persons present in the room dropped to a level between the clean and the semi-clean area in spite of the high quality of the ventilating system.

Bacterial species identified were mostly coagulase negative staphylococci and micrococci.

Our study indicates that reduction of airborne contamination in an operating suite is accomplished by the combination of an efficient ventilating system and the restriction of the number of persons present in the room.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , December 1984 , pp. 567 - 573
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

References

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