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Sporicidal Activity of a New Low-Temperature Sterilization Technology: The Sterrad 50 Sterilizer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

William A. Rutala ,
Maria F. Gergen  and
David J. Weber
William A. Rutala*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Department of Hospital Epidemiology, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Maria F. Gergen
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
David J. Weber
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Department of Hospital Epidemiology, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
*
547 Burnett-Womack Bldg, CB #7030, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7030
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Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of a new low-temperature sterilization system that recently has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, the Sterrad 50. Flat stainless steel carriers were inoculated with approximately 106 Bacillus stearothermophilus spores. These carriers were placed aseptically in the middle of 40-cm–long stainless steel-lumened test units of varying diameters (1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm). After inoculation, the test units were processed in the Sterrad 50. After sterilization, the carriers were assayed for growth of the B stearothermophilus spores. Our data demonstrated that the Sterrad 50 was highly effective in killing the B stearothermophilus spores (no positive carriers with 30 tests of each lumen-diameter test unit). The Sterrad 50 is likely to be clinically useful for the sterilization of heat-sensitive medical equipment.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 20 , Issue 7 , July 1999 , pp. 514 - 516
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1999

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