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Nosocomial Infection and Prevention
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Nosocomial Infection and Prevention

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 9437

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Gabriele Messina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy
Interests: technology; prevention; disinfection; UV radiation; LED; environmental hygiene; high touch; cross-contamination; stethoscopes; HAI
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sometimes, the hospital nature to solve health problems paradoxically turns into a vehicle of infection. The medical literature has proved the importance of fighting hospital-acquired infection (HAI) to reduce both the health damages of patients (clinical complications and mortality) and healthcare costs due to increased patient length of stay and treatment. The treatment of nosocomial infections is increasingly complex and costly, even for the development of resistant microorganisms. The problem is particularly severe for the elderly, infants, and debilitated subjects (transplants, invasive surgery, etc.) and immunodeficient people. In the Western world (USA and EU-28), having a population of around 800 million people, it is estimated that, each year, about 40 billion $ US are spent for the treatment of hospital infections which nevertheless cause 140,000 more deaths.

Education and training of good hygiene practices remain the cornerstone for preventing HAI. They are often due to inadequate and shallow management of cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing processes.

As highlighted by Dr. I.F. Semmelweis, hands are the main vehicle of cross-contamination, and still today, lack of their hygiene is the main cause of HAI. The environment has also been proven to play a role in the spread of microorganisms; shared objects that come into contact and are shared between health staff and patients are possible carriers of infection. Sanitations and disinfection techniques have been proved to reduce the level of contamination but also HAI.

Experiences, innovative strategies, and multidisciplinary approaches are needed to tackle this problem; your contribution to this Special Issue is needed in order to contrast the apparent unstoppable plague of HAI.

Prof. Gabriele Messina
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Disinfection and sterilization techniques
  • Innovation
  • Hospital-acquired Infection (HAI)
  • Environmental hygiene
  • Hospital hygiene
  • Surgical site Infections
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Cross-contamination
  • Stethoscope hygiene
  • Hand hygiene

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 2821 KiB  
Article
An Emerging Innovative UV Disinfection Technology (Part II): Virucide Activity on SARS-CoV-2
by Gabriele Messina, Alessandro Della Camera, Pietro Ferraro, Davide Amodeo, Alessio Corazza, Nicola Nante and Gabriele Cevenini
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(8), 3873; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18083873 - 07 Apr 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3678
Abstract
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has become a global health burden. Surface sanitation is one of the key points to reduce the risk of transmission both in healthcare and other public spaces. UVC light is already used in hospital and laboratory infection control, and [...] Read more.
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has become a global health burden. Surface sanitation is one of the key points to reduce the risk of transmission both in healthcare and other public spaces. UVC light is already used in hospital and laboratory infection control, and some recent studies have shown its effectiveness on SARS-CoV-2. An innovative UV chip technology, described in Part I of this study, has recently appeared able to overcome the limits of old lamps and is proposed as a valid alternative to LEDs. This study was designed to test the virucidal activity on SARS-CoV-2 of a device based on the new UV chip technology. Via an initial concentration of virus suspension of 107.2 TCID50/mL, the tests revealed a viral charge reduction of more than 99.9% after 3 min; the maximum detectable attenuation value of Log10 = 5.7 was measured at 10 min of UV exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nosocomial Infection and Prevention)
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11 pages, 1340 KiB  
Article
Safety and Effectiveness of Monochloramine Treatment for Disinfecting Hospital Water Networks
by Isabella Marchesi, Stefania Paduano, Giuseppina Frezza, Luca Sircana, Elena Vecchi, Pietro Zuccarello, Gea Oliveri Conti, Margherita Ferrante, Paola Borella and Annalisa Bargellini
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(17), 6116; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176116 - 22 Aug 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2543
Abstract
The formation of potentially carcinogenic N-nitrosamines, associated with monochloramine, requires further research due to the growing interest in using this biocide for the secondary disinfection of water in public and private buildings. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible formation [...] Read more.
The formation of potentially carcinogenic N-nitrosamines, associated with monochloramine, requires further research due to the growing interest in using this biocide for the secondary disinfection of water in public and private buildings. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible formation of N-nitrosamines and other toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs) in hospital hot water networks treated with monochloramine. The effectiveness of this biocide in controlling Legionella spp. contamination was also verified. For this purpose, four different monochloramine-treated networks, in terms of the duration of treatment and method of biocide injection, were investigated. Untreated hot water, municipal cold water and, limited to N-nitrosamines analysis, hot water treated with chlorine dioxide were analyzed for comparison. Legionella spp. contamination was successfully controlled without any formation of N-nitrosamines. No nitrification or formation of the regulated DBPs, such as chlorites and trihalomethanes, occurred in monochloramine-treated water networks. However, a stable formulation of hypochlorite, its frequent replacement with a fresh product, and the routine monitoring of free ammonia are recommended to ensure a proper disinfection. Our study confirms that monochloramine may be proposed as an effective and safe strategy for the continuous disinfection of building plumbing systems, preventing vulnerable individuals from being exposed to legionellae and dangerous DBPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nosocomial Infection and Prevention)
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11 pages, 1880 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Microbial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation on Nano-Structured and Nano-Coated Ortho-Prosthetic Materials by a Dynamic Model
by Simone Leonetti, Benedetta Tuvo, Beatrice Campanella, Stefano Legnaioli, Massimo Onor, Emilia Bramanti, Michele Totaro, Angelo Baggiani, Serena Giorgi, Gaetano Pierpaolo Privitera, Nicola Piolanti, Paolo Domenico Parchi and Beatrice Casini
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(3), 1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17031013 - 05 Feb 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2571
Abstract
The bio-engineering technologies of medical devices through nano-structuring and coating was recently proposed to improve biocompatibility and to reduce microbial adhesion in the prevention of implantable device-related infections. Our aim was to evaluate the ability of new nano-structured and coated materials to prevent [...] Read more.
The bio-engineering technologies of medical devices through nano-structuring and coating was recently proposed to improve biocompatibility and to reduce microbial adhesion in the prevention of implantable device-related infections. Our aim was to evaluate the ability of new nano-structured and coated materials to prevent the adhesion and biofilm formation, according to the American Standard Test Method ASTM-E2647-13. The materials composition was determined by X-ray Fluorescence and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy. Silver release was evaluated by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry analysis. The gene expression levels of the Quorum Sensing Las and Rhl system were evaluated by the ΔΔCt method. The Log bacterial density (Log CFU/cm2) on TiAl6V4 was 4.41 ± 0.76 and 4.63 ± 1.01 on TiAl6V4-AgNPs compared to 2.57 ± 0.70 on CoCr and 2.73 ± 0.61 on CoCr-AgNPs (P < 0.0001, A.N.O.V.A.- one way test). The silver release was found to be equal to 17.8 ± 0.2 µg/L after the batch phase and 1.3 ± 0.1 µg/L during continuous flow. The rhlR gene resulted in a 2.70-fold increased expression in biofilm growth on the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) coating. In conclusion, CoCr showed a greater ability to reduce microbial adhesion, independently of the AgNPs coating. The silver release resulted in promoting the up-regulation of the Rhl system. Further investigation should be conducted to optimize the effectiveness of the coating. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nosocomial Infection and Prevention)
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