Wayland Science Professor published in professional journal

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Wayland Baptist University Professor of Chemistry Dr. Christopher Truitt recently authored a study showing the effect of an aerosolized hydrogen peroxide disinfectant in the fight against infections in hospitals. The study was published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Truitt, working with several colleagues, tested the disinfectant in a clinical setting, finding in the last five years of the 10-year study that Clostridioidis difficile infections (CDI), which are the most common hospital-acquired infections, were reduced by 74% when the aerosol was used as part of the cleaning regimen.

“I think the biggest takeaway from this study was that the use of this new or novel aerosolized hydrogen peroxide system, along with a rigorous, standardized cleaning protocol, showed a significant reduction in C diff rates throughout our hospital,” Truitt said in an interview with Infection Control Today.

Truitt, who teaches primarily at Wayland’s Lubbock campus, explained the aerosol was tested in hospital rooms that had housed patients with CDIs. One of the study’s most significant hurdles was getting the personnel’s acceptance to use the aerosol in the cleaning processes. Truitt said once the aerosol was accepted, the challenge was to get personnel to adopt it as part of the cleaning protocol for C diff infected rooms.

“The implementation process is a little challenging, but once you overcome that, the [environment building solutions], everybody understood the importance of keeping our patients safe and preventing the spread of Clostridioides difficile in the environment,” Truitt told Infection Control Today.

The next step, according to Truitt, is to conduct additional tests on the aerosol to test its effectiveness on other common hospital infections and then test it against other disinfection technologies such as UV light. He hopes the new cleaning protocol can be valuable in the fight against hospital infections.

“I think, if there’s an infection preventionist person out there looking at a means of trying to control C diff in their environment, this is something to look into,” Truitt said.

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