Actvity of ortho-phthalaldehyde against biofilm bacteria using an in-vitro model system

Abstract

Biofilm associated infections relating to endoscopic procedures may result in asymptomatic colonisation to potentially death. An appropriate high-level disinfectant and adequate pre-cleaning steps are therefore required to prevent the risk of hospital acquired infections relating to endoscopes. Ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) is an alternative high-level disinfectant to glutaraldehyde (GTA) used for the disinfection of endoscopes. The aims of this thesis were to: i) investigate the efficacy of OPA against planktonic, surface dried bacteria and bacterial biofilm ii) to develop and test a novel in-vitro sodium alginate biofilm method for the testing of OPA iii) to develop a predictive mathematical model for measuring the effect of OPA against bacterial biofilm and iv) to investigate the effect of in-situ re-processing steps used to re-process endoscopes colonised with bacterial biofilm.

Date of Award	Nov 2007
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton