Evaluating the Sporicidal Activity of OPIDEX against Bacillus subtilis spores

Today, maintaining patient safety while receiving medical services is a basic necessity, and failure to disinfect vital instruments leads to the spread of nosocomial infections. Therefore, sterilizing tools and equipment with high-level disinfectant solutions is an essential step in controlling the prevalence of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to determine the antibacterial effect of high-level disinfectant chemical solutions based on orthophthaldehyde.

To evaluate the sporocidal activity of disinfectant, the dilution-neutralization test method was performed according to the protocol 11796 of the Iranian national Standards organization. In this method, after preparing different dilutions of bacterial spores, the suspension containing Bacillus subtilis spores was exposed to disinfectant at different times. The effect of disinfectant was neutralized after 5, 15 and 30 minutes and a constant volume of different dilutions of suspension was cultured in Muller-Hinton agar medium and finally bacterial colonies were counted.

OPIDEX disinfectant solution reduced the number of microorganisms by 3 logs after 5 minutes of exposure to suspensions containing 104, 105 and 106 spores. After 15 and 30 minutes, the rate of reduction of microorganisms was 4 log and 5 log, respectively in suspensions containing 105 and 106 spores.

OPIDEX disinfectant solution could reduce the number of spores in the suspension by 6 log in a time-dependent process, Therefore, this disinfectant solution with high sporicidal power can be used to disinfect medical equipment in the hospital.