The importance of the environment in a building
In all buildings, surfaces are colonized by microorganisms. These microorganisms are deposited by sedimentation or contact.
This colonization can affect anyone walking around this building.
In social or medical social settings, a risk of transmission is posed to health care staff because they have frequent contact with environmental surfaces in patients' or residents' rooms. These contacts lead to heavy contamination of hands and gloves. For example, contamination of hands with methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occurs as frequently during contact with the environment as during direct contact with patients or residents (Weber D.J and Rutala W.A, 2013).
In a building, surfaces therefore play an important role in the spread of pathogens and this real risk is very often minimised. Increasing the persistence time of a pathogenic microorganism on a surface increases the risk of transmitting infections to building users.
The contribution of Steriall® alloys to the control of the risk of infection
In every building, controlling the risk of infection is important. In a medical or medico-social building the problem is reinforced by the fragility of the public and community life. In this type of establishment, the control of infectious risk is transversal and multisectoral. The CClin propose compendiums of good practices which deal with the organisation of prevention methods in the establishment (including the very important training and awareness raising of staff), the management of the environment and circuits, the management of equipment, the management of care, the vaccination policy, the management of epidemics and the prevention of accidents involving exposure to blood.
80% of contaminations are hand-transmitted and these hand-transmitted contaminations must focus our attention.
Staff training and strict adherence to instructions are a key element of the asepsis plan. However, these measures, whether physical, chemical or biological, cannot claim to be universal. Steriall® alloys are therefore an essential complement to the asepsis plan.
URCA studies show that Steriall® alloys have a continuous action over time. While antisepsis and disinfection actions will be effective for a given time and require human action, Steriall® products see their action continue without specific human intervention!
On the other hand, URCA studies show that Steriall® alloys can complement the action of disinfectants. Thus, for example, a quaternary ammonium will be ineffective against a naked virus such as norovirus (cause of gastroenteritis) or polio virus, whereas URCA studies show that these infectious agents are sensitive to Steriall® alloys.
Thus, Steriall® alloys are to be considered as an important link in the asepsis plan in addition to other measures such as antisepsis of hands and mucous membranes, wearing gloves or disinfecting surfaces..