Bacteriophages >>>> Disinfection with the use of bacteriophages

Disinfection with the use of bacteriophages.

The increasing spread of antibiotic-resistant forms of bacteria every year has led to the development of not only new methods of antibiotic therapy, but also to the development of new methods for the prevention and control of nosocomial infections, which play a significant role in the spread of bacteria resistant to antibiotic therapy.

Evolutionary developments in the field of sanitary and epidemiological methods in the provision of medical care in medical and preventive institutions in connection with the current epidemiological situation in medical institutions involved in the provision of surgical care to the population or in the treatment and prevention of invasive procedures (with the penetration of instruments into the body) and non-invasive procedures ( without penetration), today allow the use of bacteriophages as a biological disinfectant.

Due to the fact that clones of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics, antiseptics and disinfectants (hospital bacterial strains) have been found in medical institutions, measures to prevent the spread of nosocomial infections are changing dramatically and require the development of new approaches to combat resistant bacterial strains. Bacteriophages used for the treatment and prevention of bacterial diseases have also found application in the methods of sanitary and epidemiological processing.

In 2021 Sanitary rules and regulations 3.3686-21 on modern methods of preventing the spread of infectious diseases was developed and entered into force in Russia, specifying the rules for the use of bacteriophages as part of the sanitary and epidemiological regime.

A new method of sanitation and disinfection within a medical institution providing medical and preventive care to the population describes in detail the methodology for sanitizing and disinfecting with bacteriophages, which applies to:

Work surfaces (tables, armchairs, small tables, cabinets);
Furniture in wards, operating rooms and manipulation rooms (cabinets with medicines and instruments, bedside tables, chairs and tables);
Surfaces in rooms (walls, window sills, doors, frames and glass in windows);
Equipment (racks for infusion systems and other equipment, handles on equipment, humidifiers, etc.);
Fittings and accessories for patients in the wards (handles, buttons, handrails and similar devices);
Surfaces of plumbing devices in wards, toilets and sanitary rooms (surfaces of sinks, bathtubs, showers, toilet bowls and similar devices).

Disinfection with bacteriophages has an advantage over chemical and physical disinfection methods, as it has no toxic or allergic effect and can be carried out in the presence of people (including: newborns and premature babies, infants of any age, pregnant women, the elderly, people in a state of coma or those who are on hardware life support). It is also appropriate to carry out disinfection with bacteriophages after vacating the wards or medical boxes.

Since bacteriophages are compatible with most chemical disinfectants, sanitation and disinfection is carried out in stages: three to four hours before the main disinfection work or three to four hours after the main disinfection as the final stage of disinfection.

It is not recommended to carry out disinfection with bacteriophages continuously - more than three bacteriophage incubation periods, since bacteria can form clones with phage-resistance. After surface treatment, the bacteriophage itself is destroyed within three days if it does not find a suitable bacterium for reproduction.

Bacteriophages for sanitization and disinfection are used only in the form of a liquid preparation, which is applied by irrigation or aerosol spraying on surfaces (but not into the air). It is allowed to dilute the bacteriophage preparation with saline (in a one-to-one ratio of volumes) to offset the excessive foaming effect.

For the expediency of disinfection with bacteriophages, washouts from surfaces are preliminarily monitored in order to identify specific clones of bacterial strains for which a bacteriophage preparation is selected individually. To control the quality of disinfection with bacteriophages, wash off the processing surfaces six to eight hours after processing with bacteriophages.

Medical facilities carry out disinfection with bacteriophages independently, involving bacteriological laboratories to identify clones of bacterial strains before sanitation and to control the quality of treatment following disinfection and decide on the advisability of repeating it.