Microbiologic evaluation of microfiber mops for surface disinfection

Rutala, William A. PhD, MPH
Gergen, Maria F. MT (ASCP)
Weber, David J. MD, MPH

From the Department of Hospital Epidemiology^a, University of North Carolina Health Care System, and the Division of Infectious Diseases^b, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.

Address correspondence to William A. Rutala, PhD, MPH, Division of Infectious Diseases, Bioinformatics Building, 130 Mason Farm Road, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7030. E-mail [email protected]

The authors thank Dr. Greg Samsa (Duke University) for the statistical analysis and Ramsey Roland and the UNC Health Care System's Environmental Services staff for their cooperation.

This work received no funding, and there are no financial disclosures to report.

AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control 35(9):p 569-573, November 2007.

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.