The Tancs steam vapour system is designed to kill bacteria and other pathogens and emulsify soil, grease and oil, as well as remove deeply embedded contaminants and prevent their re-accumulation
Texas-based Antimicrobial Test Laboratories conducted two studies, each utilising five individual test surfaces, to evaluate the capability of Advanced Vapor Technologies's Tancs steam vapour disinfection system to disinfect surfaces colonised by the microorganism Acinetobacter baumannii.
Acinetobacter are bacteria commonly found in soil and water, are resistant to many different antibiotics and survive well on environmental surfaces.
It can also be found on the skin of healthy people, especially healthcare personnel.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, outbreaks of Acinetobacter infections typically occur in intensive care units and facilities housing very ill patients; infections rarely occur outside of healthcare settings.
Acinetobacter causes a variety of diseases, ranging from pneumonia to serious blood or wound infections, and the symptoms vary depending on the disease.
It may also colonise or live in a patient without causing infection or symptoms, especially in tracheostomy sites or open wounds.
All Acinetobacter species can cause human disease, and Acinetobacter baumannii accounts for about 80 percent of reported infections.
"For each experiment, greater than ten million viable A baumannii in a 5% artificial soil suspension were spread over porous clay surfaces," explained Benjamin Tanner, president of Antimicrobial Test Laboratories.
"At least two million viable A baumannii cells were present on each test surface after the inoculum was dried to create a film.
"The surfaces were then treated briefly with the saturated steam device, for periods of 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 seconds.
"Immediately after treatment, test surfaces were transferred to a broth suspension for cooling and microbial enumeration by duplicate plating.
"Elution broth tubes were also incubated to enhance the detection limit or sensitivity for the study".
The experiment demonstrated a rapid reduction in A baumannii levels with increasing treatment time, Tanner said.
The destruction of pathogens on the surfaces demonstrated "roughly log-linear kinetics," with total disinfection of A baumannii on the surface occurring within five seconds in both trials.
Extraordinarily brief treatments of the surface also produced substantial reductions in the pathogen load; more than 97.5% of the bacteria were killed within the first two seconds of treatment.
Tancs steam vapour systems offer a simple water-only cleaning and disinfection process.
Heat, not pressure, does the deep cleaning and disinfecting.
Contained, sustained heat breaks the bond between contaminants and a surface.
"The saturated steam device tested here reduced levels of A baumannii on surfaces quickly and dramatically," Tanner said.
"Microbial reductions in 'real-life' usage of the device may be greater than indicated by these studies, because they were conservative in that the surface was highly porous and was cooled immediately after treatment.
"The similarities in performance of the device between trials suggest that it is a reliable and consistent means to disinfect a surface contaminated with A baumannii."
