Highlights
- •Microbial loads on surfaces contribute to health care–acquired infections.
- •Photocatalytic materials destroy organic substances, including microbes.
- •Titanium dioxide is a photocatalytic substance that can be applied as a very safe coating.
- •Infections declined 30% after such a coating was introduced to our facility.
- •Results confirm the logic of the approach and suggest additional studies.
Health care facilities contain potentially contaminated surfaces that are either difficult
to sanitize or prone to recontamination. Photocatalytic materials exhibit antimicrobial
activity when exposed to light and provide a safe, durable coating on a wide range
of surfaces. We assessed infection rates before and after introduction of a photocatalytic
coating in our facility. Infection rates decreased overall by 30%, a change that was
statistically significant (P = .02). Similar changes to the built environment merit additional investigation.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 16, 2014
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
