Are your HEALTHCARE WORKERS well protected

Cleaning and disinfection are integral elements of good hygiene practice within the hospital ward and for personnel to observe. Surfaces must be rendered clean and decontaminated between patients to minimise the risks that can arise from patient-to-patient and patient-to-staff infection.

The global pandemic has led to a change in the attitudes of consumers around the world. Making safety the topmost priority followed by cost-effectiveness.

Currently, Hypochlorite that has been known as a strong disinfectant since the 18th century has been extensively used at hospitals in India. This article considers the use and application of Hypochlorite in healthcare facilities, at the hospital ward level, and provides an overview of the mode of action together with some of the technical challenges presented by this type of disinfectant.

Infection Control Strategy – Don’t Settle:

Repeated human exposure to harmful chemicals during the pandemic has raised questions on exposure-related long-term health risks and occupational safety. Hazardous products such as bleach (Hypochlorite) formulas denatures amino acids and kill pathogens. It puts staff and patients at risk through the release of VOC, causes long-term Damage to expensive medical equipment and work surfaces, causes skin irritation to users reducing hand hygiene compliance, and severely impacts the environment.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also advised caution when using hypochlorite as a disinfectant. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued an advisory stating that spraying disinfectants like sodium hypochlorite is harmful.

Central to the infection control strategy is the selection and use of an appropriate disinfectant. For an ideal disinfectant, a user needs to seek answers of 3 C's.

What is the Contact time?

What Concentration is needed? &

Which Chemical is used?

The purpose of this article is to summarize the many factors that affect standard cleaning and disinfection practices and to discuss modern technologies used by companies like Bioguard that can supplement traditional cleaning and disinfection methods.

Contact Time & Product Efficacy in real-life condition

An ideal disinfectant will have a broad spectrum of activity and a relatively short contact time.

Disinfectants kill/ inactivates micro-organisms but may not remove soil load and therefore may not kill all the micro-organisms present. Many products are tested in laboratories under clean conditions that do not reflect in real life.

Bioguard products are proved to be Independently tested to European & British Standards that are tested in clean and dirty conditions and against high risks organisms like Coronavirus, Mycobacteria & Spores.

Usually, the contact time of disinfectant is anywhere between 10-30 minutes on surfaces. Products requiring long contact times end up not being user-friendly and reduce the efficacy of infection control.

In India, Bioguard products are the only ones with the efficacy of action under 30 seconds. Additionally, Bioguard products are tested against

• Viruses including Coronavirus, Hepatitis, H1N1, Norovirus, and HIV
• Bacteria including MRSA & Pseudomonas
• Mycobacteria
• Spore such as Clostridium difficile
• Multidrug-resistant ESKAPE Microorganisms (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp)

Concentration & Chemicals:

Hypochlorite liberates a toxic gas when exposed to sunlight and hence must always be stored in a cool and shaded place. It also decomposes and loses its effectiveness with time. It can also corrode metals and damage painted surfaces. The cleaning personnel necessarily needs to wear protective clothing and eyewear before using the chemical.

In lieu of a lack of adequate knowledge and public awareness, these chemicals have been frequently used on porous surfaces, equipment, cloth face-masks, on which disinfectant chemical residues may persist for a longer duration and damage the surfaces and harmful to the people.

Bioguard’s environment-friendly products help in cleaning, disinfecting at the same time while not harming the surfaces and equipment with the power of Biochem®.

Biochem® works in 3 steps: penetrates & removes soiling on the contact surface, penetrates microorganism protective shell, and disinfects by killing 99.999% of bacteria and inactivating many viruses in a single use. With its available range of formats including Ready-to-use (RTU), concentrated liquids and wipes require no special training to the staff. Alcohol-free, Non-degrading on contact surfaces & pH neutral makes it gentle on skin and surface Non-Hazardous.

There is evidence that contaminated surfaces and the untreated hands of healthcare professionals contribute to the spread of nosocomial pathogens within the hospital setting.

For these reasons, environmental disinfection is necessary to contain the severity and likelihood of infection to minimize the potential for a ward-level outbreak situation emerging.

One Brand for All Requirements

Bioguard is a UK-based enterprise, which has pioneered the development, manufacture, and distribution of a unique, class-leading range of hygiene, cleaning, and infection control products into the healthcare, vending, and food processing sectors over the last 2 decades. Bioguard serves more than 15,000 healthcare clients ranging from major multinationals to small enterprises across the UK, Europe, India, and internationally.

Disinfectant Cleaning Solution is one of Bioguard’s proprietary range of products. The non-Hazardous and alcohol-free solution is supplied in a ready-to-use or concentrated liquid solution, for use in high and low-risk infection control environments.

• Powerful & Proven: Protects against 99.999% of bacteria, viruses & spores tested incl COVID19 in under 30 seconds.
• Independently Tested: As per European standards [EN13704, EN14476, EN13727, EN1276, EN1650]. Laboratory testing was conducted in dirty conditions to reflect real-life user situations.
• Proven Efficacy: Effective at dilutions of 1:257 (4 ml per lt) giving users confidence, it will work in the dirtiest of conditions.
• Easy To Use: Fast acting in with contact time as short as 30 seconds with residual efficacy, speeds up the cleaning process, and is more user friendly. Cleans and disinfects all surfaces including fabric and soft furnishings, decontaminates the whole environment without damage. Eliminates the need for multiple products speeds up cleaning.
• Safe: No harmful VOC, MEA tested, and dermatologically approved for safety. Alcohol-free and PH neutral Environmentally friendly breaks down into harmless salt ions and water.
• Cost-Effective: Remains effective at higher dilution rates, reducing the amount of applied product solution used.

Here’s what people are saying about Bioguard’s Disinfectants:

“The Bioguard product, tested in its ready-to-use state, performed exceptionally well”

Law Laboratories results in testing Disinfectant Cleaning Solution against MRSA

“Bioguard disinfectant shows bacterial activity to at least a dilution of 1:128 against the tested organism. As the working dilution of Bioguard is 1:15, this represents a total dilution of 1:1920 and is indicative of the efficiency of the product. I have no reservation about recommending Bioguard disinfectant for use in the American Mission Hospital”

Test conclusion, American Mission Hospital, Bahrain

The world is changing more rapidly than ever, and consumer preferences will continue to shape with the time to come. The report highlights how businesses, microbiologists, health care providers, and individuals need to key an eye on identifying a focus on safe & 360 wellness products.

Connect to Bioguard’s website and reach out to identify a myth surrounding hypochlorite being safe and economical and enable yourself to not settle.