Steam vapour wipes out MRSA and VRE

Studies with MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus faecalis) demonstrated complete surface disinfection within just five seconds.

MRSA and VRE are both antibiotic resistant, opportunistic pathogens that can be transmitted from one person to the next by contaminated surfaces.

In addition to resisting antibiotics, these microorganisms can survive for long periods of time on environmental surfaces.

Though normally found in healthcare environments, MRSA in particular appears to be spreading to the community at large.

Recently, researchers have noted an uptick of infections dubbed community-acquired MRSA or CA-MRSA.

Like MRSA from healthcare environments, CA-MRSA can be spread by surfaces and is a major threat to public health.

MRSA and VRE cause pneumonia, skin infections, wound infections and other serious problems.

Infections are most common in people with compromised immune systems, such as those with diabetes or the elderly.

Infections with MRSA and VRE are often deadly, since administration of antibiotics to infected patients may have little or no effect on the course of the disease.

The Tancs steam vapour system is designed to kill bacteria and other pathogens while thoroughly cleaning surfaces by removing deeply embedded contaminants.

Tancs steam vapour systems offer a simple water-only cleaning and disinfection process.

Heat, not pressure, does the deep cleaning and disinfecting.

Contained, sustained heat breaks the bond between contaminants and a surface.

According to Benjamin Tanner, president of Antimicrobial Test Laboratories, "The Tancs system has shown extraordinary results in laboratory tests.

"A 99.9999% reduction of MRSA and VRE on surfaces within five seconds is a level of performance that chemical disinfectants may never achieve".

"For the MRSA and VRE experiments, tens of millions of viable cells in a 5% artificial soil suspension were spread over porous clay surfaces," explained Benjamin Tanner, president of Antimicrobial Test Laboratories.

"At least six million viable MRSA or VRE cells were present on each test surface after the inoculum was dried, creating a film.

"The surfaces were then treated briefly with the saturated steam device, for periods of 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 seconds.

"Immediately after treatment, test surfaces were transferred to a broth suspension for cooling and microbial enumeration by duplicate plating.

"The experiment was designed to detect even a single surviving microorganism after treatment with the Tancs steam vapour.

"The saturated steam device tested here produced an extraordinary reduction of both MRSA and VRE", Tanner said "The two separate replicates of each experiment produced very similar kill-curves, suggesting that these results were not anomalous".