How can I safely disinfect an environmental surface that has been contaminated with Clostridium difficile?
C. difficile is a spore-forming bacterium and is, therefore, extremely resistant to environmental conditions and chemical germicides. When decontaminating environmental surfaces it is necessary for one to realize that an environmental surface may harbour a number of microorganisms, ranging from vegetative bacteria to spores. It is also necessary to realize that the inanimate environmental surfaces are seldom directly responsible for disease, but inanimate objects may act as fomites and serve as a vehicle for transmission either by contaminating the hands of health care workers for by contact with medical equipment. Therefore, proper cleaning of inanimate objects is the key to reducing the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms such as C. difficile.
