Professor Dr PETER HEEG and Dr JÜRGEN GAUER report on the findings of a study to evaluate a novel approach to minimise the risk of infectious disease transmission, through high-level disinfection.
Ultrasound transducers are complex medical devices widely used to conduct transvaginal, transrectal, abdominal and intraoperative sonography examinations thus providing guidance for diagnostic assessments and therapeutic interventions within almost all medical specialties. As ultrasound transducers may come in contact with mucosal membranes, diseased skin, infected tissue and blood, they are subject to stringent reprocessing guidelines.
Requirements for reprocessing of devices such as endocavity utrasound probes include an effective cleaning process that physically removes infectious agents and the organic matter on which they thrive, followed by validated, preferably automated, high-level disinfection (HLD).
The FDA defines HLD as necessary exposure time for a microbicidal agent to achieve a 6-log10 reduction in bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens.1 Effective cleaning does not destroy infectious agents but the vast majority of pathogens are present in the organic residues on the probe, therefore the cleaning process is vitally important and a prerequisite for subsequent methods of decontamination.2
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