Evaluation of an Ozone Cabinet for Disinfecting Medical Equipment

Sammanfattning: The spreading of infection is a significant and well-known problem in all healthcare environments today. The most prevalentways that infection spreads are either by direct contact between two individuals where one has an infection, or with anintermediate person or object as an infection carrier. This thesis aims to evaluate a method that could operate to disinfect thetype of medical equipment which is not suited to be disinfected by the commercially existing methods. In keeping with the long term goal of preventing the spread of infection, this project evaluates an ozone cabinet according to itsantimicrobial properties and investigates if the cabinet is suited to work as a disinfectant for some chosen test objects. Theobjects were borrowed from different hospital institutions at Motala Lasarett and the antimicrobial effect was evaluatedaccording to the reduction of colony forming units (CFUs) of samples taken from the object's surfaces after the treatment. The results show that the ozone cabinet is not able to kill bacterial spores (Geobacillus stearothermophilus), but could be veryefficient at killing living bacteria. Concentration setting 4 (56 ppm) in combination with a treatment period of at least 40minutes proves bacterial reductions varying between 83-98 %. Nevertheless, the sources of error are numerous and there is agreat variation between identical runs which indicates that more studies need to be performed in order to obtain clearer results.