Background
Recently, health care facilities have started to use a microfiber mopping technique
rather than a conventional, cotton string mop to clean floors.
Methods
The effectiveness of microfiber mops to reduce microbial levels on floors was investigated.
We compared the efficacy of microfiber mops with that of conventional, cotton string
mops in 3 test conditions (cotton mop and standard wringer bucket, microfiber mop
and standard wringer bucket, microfiber system). Twenty-four rooms were evaluated
for each test condition. RODAC plates containing D/E Neutralizing Agar were used to
assess “precleaning” and “postcleaning” microbial levels.
Results
The microfiber system demonstrated superior microbial removal compared with cotton
string mops when used with a detergent cleaner (95% vs 68%, respectively). The use
of a disinfectant did not improve the microbial elimination demonstrated by the microfiber
system (95% vs 95%, respectively). However, use of disinfectant did significantly
improve microbial removal when a cotton string mop was used (95% vs 68%, respectively).
Conclusion
The microfiber system demonstrated superior microbial removal compared with cotton
string mops when used with a detergent cleaner. The use of a disinfectant did not
improve the microbial elimination demonstrated by the microfiber system.
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Article Info
Footnotes
This work received no funding, and there are no financial disclosures to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
