CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2022; 26(03): e460-e466
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1742330
Original Research

Efficacy of Disinfection of Rigid Endoscope by Ethyl Alcohol 70%

1   Department of Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2   Hospital IPO, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
3   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Universitário Cajuru, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
,
2   Hospital IPO, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
3   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Universitário Cajuru, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
,
4   Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
1   Department of Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Introduction Currently, there is no safe, affordable, and ecologically-sustainable guideline that helps prevent contamination through endoscopy. We evaluated the safety of intermediate-level disinfection with 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) based on biological-load recovery from rigid endoscopes after nasal endoscopy.

Objective To demonstrate the efficacy of 70% ethanol in disinfecting rigid endoscopes (REs) to reduce microbial growth in microbiological cultures.

Methods After a nasal endoscopy examination, the endoscope was swabbed with gauze; this served as the positive-control sample. The standard operating procedure for intermediate-level disinfection with 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) following prior cleaning was applied. The endoscope was again swabbed; this served as the experimental sample. The collected material from the endoscope was extracted from gauze pieces, filtered through a 0.22-μm cellulose membrane, and cultivated in different means of culture.

Results The results revealed a significant difference between the positive-control and experimental groups regarding the presence of Streptococcus coagulase (-) (p < 0.001), Bacillus spp. (p < 0.001), and Staphylococcus aureus (p = 0.001). These microorganisms were detected in the control group, but not in the experimental group.

Conclusions Microorganisms were not recovered from the samples of the experimental group, demonstrating the efficacy and the germicidal action of 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) as a means of achieving intermediate-level disinfection.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declare that they have not received any funding pertaining to the present study.




Publication History

Received: 23 March 2021

Accepted: 02 November 2021

Article published online:
31 January 2022

© 2022. Fundação Otorrinolaringologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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