Touchscreens are a potential source of pathogen transmission. In our facility, patients
and visitors rarely perform hand hygiene after using interactive touchscreen computer
kiosks. An automated ultraviolet-C touchscreen disinfection device was effective in
reducing bacteriophage MS2, bacteriophage ϕX174, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium difficile spores inoculated onto a touchscreen. In simulations, an automated ultraviolet-C
touchscreen disinfection device alone or in combination with hand hygiene reduced
transfer of the viruses from contaminated touchscreens to fingertips.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 22, 2017
Footnotes
This work was supported by Merit Review Grant No. 1 I01 BX002944-01A1 from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to CJD. Diversey Inc developed the touchscreen disinfection device in collaboration with the authors, but did not participate in design of the study, analysis or interpretation of the data, or writing of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest: CJD has received research grants from Merck, GOJO, STERIS, and EcoLab and serves on advisory boards for 3M and Synthetic Biologics.
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Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
