High-level disinfection
*Acknowledgement: The University of New South Wales School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health wishes to thank Connect IVF, Fertility Clinic located at 20 Bridge Street Sydney 2000, for its participation in this study.
References 1. MHRA, Medical Device Alert Ref: MDA/2012/037 Issued: 28 June 2012
2. Sartoretti T, Sartoretti E, Bucher C, Doert A, Binkert C, Hergan K, Meissnitzer M, Froehlich J, Kolokythas O, Matoori S, Orasch C, Kos S, Sartoretti-Schefer S, Gutzeit A. Bacterial contamination of ultrasound probes in different radiological institutions before and after specific hygiene training: do we have a general hygienical problem? Eur Radiol. 2017 Oct;27(10):4181-4187. doi: 10.1007/s00330-017-4812-1. Epub 2017 Apr 3. PMID: 28374081.
3. Keys M, Sim BZ, Thom O, Tunbridge MJ, Barnett AG, Fraser JF. Efforts to Attenuate the Spread of Infection (EASI): a prospective, observational multicentre survey of ultrasound equipment in Australian emergency departments and intensive care units. Crit Care Resusc. 2015, Mar;17(1):43-6. PMID: 25702761.
4. Chen, G. Q., Chen, Y. H., Yi, L., Yin, J., Gao, Q., Song, J. N., Guo, G. P. (2018). Study on a New Ultraviolet Sterilizer to the Surface Disinfection of the Ultrasound Probe. Biomed Environ Sci, 31(2), 163-167. doi:10.3967/bes2018.021
5. Pichon, M., Lebail-Carval, K., Billaud, G., Lina, B., Gaucherand, P., & Mekki, Y. (2019). Decontamination of Intravaginal Probes Infected by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Using UV-C Decontamination System. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(11), 1776.
6. ASUM. (2017). Guidelines for reprocessing ultrasound transducers. Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, 20(1), 30-40.
About the author
Prof. Willcox PhD, FAAO, FBCLA, FASM, FARVO, DSc, is a professor and research director at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. A medical microbiologist, he has worked for many years in the area of disinfection of medical devices. His research includes the development of novel antimicrobials that have applications as antibiotics and disinfectants. The laboratory also develops new antimicrobial coatings that can be used for a variety of purposes, including coating of medical devices to reduce associated infections. Other research includes adhesion and biofilm formation of pathogenic microbes (most notablyPseudomonas aeruginosa and
50 40 30 20 10 0
39.1%
13%
13% 8.7% 4.3% 4.3% 4.3% 4.3% 4.3% 4.3%
Figure: 3 Types of bacteria and relative frequency identified on untreated control probes (data from Yasir and Willcox, 2024)
7. France, M., Alizadeh, M., Brown, S., Ma, B., & Ravel, J. (2022). Towards a deeper understanding of the vaginal microbiota. Nature Microbiology, 7(3), 367-378. doi:10.1038/s41564-022-01083-2
8. Hong, H. A., To, E., Fakhry, S., Baccigalupi, L., Ricca, E., & Cutting, S. M. (2009). Defining the natural habitat of Bacillus spore-formers. Res Microbiol, 160(6), 375-379. doi:10.1016/j. resmic.2009.06.006
9. Guidelines from the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) and The Society & College of Radiographers (2020), Accessed at:
https://www.bmus.org/static/uploads/ resources/2020_Guidelines_for_Professional_ Ultrasound_Practice.pdf
10. Bradley CR, et al, Guidance for the decontamination of intracavity medical devices: the report of
About the author
Staphylococcus aureus). This research involves the study of microbial pathogenesis, and mammalian tissue responses to microbes and biomaterials. Current funded projects include four Government grants (NHMRC and ARC) investigating antimicrobial biomaterials and novel antimicrobials.
Dr. Muhammad Yasir is a postdoctoral fellow, at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales. Dr. Yasir has a PhD in Medical Microbiology (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2020), and MPhil in Microbiology (Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2013). His research focuses on investigating the mechanisms of action of newly designed antimicrobials and technologies for reducing the spread of microbes. He is particularly interested in how these new antimicrobials prevent microbes from colonising surfaces. His research has applications for preventing the transmission of disease and reducing the incidence of HCAIs
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a working group of the Healthcare Infection Society,Journal of Hospital Infection (2018).
11. Yasir M and Willcox MDP. The use of ultraviolet light generated from light-emitting diodes for the disinfection of transvaginal ultrasound probes. PLoS ONE 19(2): e0298449
% samples contamination
Bacillus pumilus Micrococcus luteus Bacillus safensis Pseudomonas luteola Bacillus infantis
Bacillus oceanisediminis Bacillus idriences Bacillus licheniformis Staphylococcus warneri Staphylococcus cohnii
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