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Impact of an Oil-Based Lubricant on the Effectiveness of the Sterilization Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

William A. Rutala ,
Maria F. Gergen  and
David J. Weber
William A. Rutala*
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Health Care System, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Maria F. Gergen
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Health Care System, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
David J. Weber
Affiliation:
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Health Care System, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, 130 Mason Farm Rd., Bioinformatics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7030 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Surgical instruments, including hinged instruments, were inoculated with test microorganisms (ie, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, approximately 2 × 106 colony-forming units [cfu]; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, approximately 3 x 106 cfu; Escherichia coli, approximately 2 × 105 cfu; vancomycin-resistant enterococci, 1 × 105 cfu; Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores, 2 × 105 cfu or more; or Bacillus atrophaeus spores, 9 × 104 cfu or more), coated with an oil-based lubricant (hydraulic fluid), subjected to a sterilization process, and then samples from the instruments were cultured. We found that the oil-based lubricant did not alter the effectiveness of the sterilization process because high numbers of clinically relevant bacteria and standard test spores (which are relatively resistant to the sterilization process) were inactivated.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 69 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2008

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