When working with peracetic acid, it is important to ensure that workers are adequately protected. P . RICHARD WARBURTON provides an insight into the measures that need to be taken.
Peracetic acid is a strong oxidising agent that is widely used as a high level disinfectant for endoscopes in AERs. However, when working with peracetic acid, it is important to ensure that workers are adequately protected. P. RICHARD WARBURTON provides an insight into the measures that need to be taken.
Endoscopy is one of the most important tools for a gastroenterologist, allowing the physician to diagnose diseases of the colon more easily than with alternative techniques. In the United Kingdom there are 360,000 colonoscopy and 217,000 flexible sigmoidoscopy procedures conducted every year1 and with the ongoing NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme this number is likely to increase.
The flexible joints and hollow interior of the modern endoscope that help make it so useful also create difficulties in cleaning and sterilisation. In 2008 the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that more healthcare-associated outbreaks were linked to contaminated endoscopes than to any other medical device.2 A more recent 3M study of US hospitals found that 15% failed to adequately clean endoscopes.3
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