Abstract

The study was designed to investigate bactericidal and fungicidal actions of salicid (pH: 6.7, ORP: 760 mV, residual chlorine of 2 to 5 ppm) on hospital infections. Four of the most common opportunistic pathogens (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus,Rhizopus oryzae, and Aspergillus fumigatus) were used for this study. Cultures were inoculated in 9 mL of salicid and incubated for 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 min at room temperature (23 ± 2°C). A dipping method was followed for this study. Untreated pathogens were treated as control. Compared to the untreated control, a reduction of 1.10 to 6.08 log₁₀ CFU/mL for aforementioned pathogens were recorded as the result of treatment with 2 and 5 ppm salicid, respectively. The highest bactericidal effect was found with S. aureus for 5 ppm salicid with 0.5 min immerse time. Salicid treatment with 0.5 min dipping and 5 ppm residual chlorine also reduced K. pneumoniae, R. oryzae, and A. fumigatus by 5.00, 3.50 and 2.63 log₁₀ CFU/mL, respectively. Our findings showed that in each pathogen, efficacy of salicid decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increased dipping time, from 0.5 to 10 min and there was significant difference (p < 0.05) observed between 2 and 5 ppm salicid treatment in reducing pathogens. The results indicate that salicid may be a useful disinfectant for hospital infections, but its clinical application has still to be evaluated.  

Key words: Salicid, Bactericidal and fungicidal effect, Hospital infections.