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Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina Hospital System used short-wave ultraviolet radiation to test its effectiveness in eliminating Acinetobacter, Clostridium difficile or vancomycin-resistant enterococci in more than 50 patient rooms.
The researchers found the numbers of bacterial colony-forming units fell dramatically. Fifty-two CFUs of Acinetobacter were seen before irradiation, but only 1 CFU afterward, down 98.1 percent. Researchers found similar declines for VRE.
The culturing initially was not sensitive enough to isolate C. diff, but improved techniques allowed the researchers to do further testing and the results in the UV-C treated rooms were just as dramatic.
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