IN-VITRO ACTIVITY OF COMMERCIALLY MANUFACTURED DISINFECTANTS AGAINST PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGIONSA

The in vitro activity of 17 commercially manufactured disinfectants ro utinely used in a large teaching hospital was tested against 128 strai ns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from hospitalized patients and t he hospital environment. Except for quaternary ammonium salts, all the disinfectants at dilutions higher or equalling those recommended by t he manufacturer were adequate to suppress P. aeruginosa. Chlorhexidine -, povidone-iodine- and glutaraldehyde-based disinfectants at dilution s 4 to 8-fold lower than the normal use dilution had a marked bacteric idal effect (>3 log(10) reduction of viable cells) within a short time (10 to 120 min). Similar formulations produced by different manufactu rers exhibited comparable activity against P. aeruginosa.