Safe disinfection and cleaning of surfaces contaminated with biological fluids
What are the dangers of surfaces contaminated with biological fluids?
By far the most dangerous pollution is blood spills. Medical personnel should always be on the lookout for this type of contamination as any spilled blood could potentially contain parenteral hepatitis or HIV viruses that’s why many health care facilities resort to the blood spill cleanup service to deal with this issue. One should know that surfaces can act as a factor in the transmission of these dangerous infections.
It should be mentioned that other biological fluids (saliva, sputum, vomit, feces, etc.) are not as dangerous as blood. Objects that come into contact with these fluids cannot cause the spread of HIV and parenteral hepatitis. However, they may well act as a factor in the transmission of other infectious diseases, in particular, acute intestinal infections, tuberculosis, influenza, etc.
How does blood spill cleanup service deal with surfaces contaminated with biological fluids?
In medical institutions, wet cleaning with the use of disinfectants should be carried out daily. As a rule, floors, walls, doors, equipment and hard furniture, etc. are disinfected by wiping. The best option is to use disinfectants with detergent properties, which will allow combining surface disinfection with washing it. Of course, the staff of a blood spill cleanup service must carry out cleaning wearing personal protective equipment.
In general, current cleaning in the premises of a medical institution is carried out according to the regimen used for bacterial infections. However, disinfection of objects that have been in contact with biological fluids and, in particular, blood, should be carried out according to the rules used for parenteral hepatitis.
Before cleaning, blood spill cleanup service worker should inspect the area for visible traces of bodily fluids. When detecting blood spills on the floor, furniture, equipment surfaces, etc., it is necessary, first of all, to process this area of the room.
In case of small pollution, the surface is wiped and abundantly moistened with a special solution of a disinfectant. Fifteen minutes later, the process is repeated.
For large blood spills, it’s necessary to use special wipes absorbing the liquid, which must be placed in a container for hazardous waste after cleaning. Usually, blood spill cleanup service treats the contaminated area twice. After that, it’s possible to carry out the cleaning of the entire premises.
What are the effective disinfectants for surface disinfection?
When choosing disinfectants, first of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the spectrum of their action. So, for the treatment of surfaces contaminated with biological fluids, it is necessary to use disinfectants with a wide spectrum of action. This means that this disinfectant is effective against most microorganisms, including HIV and hepatitis viruses.
Some blood spill cleanup services prefer using disinfectants with a wide spectrum of activity based on active chlorine while others use more modern disinfectants which do not harm the environment.
To sum up, every surface contaminated by blood should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected following particular rules. It’s necessary to apply to a special blood spill cleanup service to do this job because the specialists have all the necessary equipment and disinfectants at their disposal to effectively deal with contamination.