Evaluating decontamination protocols for the isolation of Mycobacterium ulcerans from swabs

BMC Microbiology

Table 1 Inhibitory effect of selected chemical agents on clinical isolates of Potential skin contaminants

Chemical agents	In-vitro resistance of microbes to chemical agents^a	Test plates showing no growth, n (N = 70)	Estimated activity levels of chemical agents (%)
0.5% PI	None of the microbes tested	68	97
1% PI	None of the microbes tested	70	100
1% CPC/2% NaCl	E. coli, P. aeruginosa & S. typhi	65	92
2% CPC/4% NaCl	None of the microbes tested	67	95
5% Oxalic acid	B. cereus & A. niger	64	91
10% Oxalic acid	None of the microbes tested	67	96
0.5% Virkon	A. niger	67	96
1% Virkon	None of the microbes tested	67	96
20% BC (Timsen)	P. aeruginosa, B. cereus & A. niger	60	86
40% BC (Timsen)	P. aeruginosa & A. niger	63	90

PI Povidone iodine, CPC Cetyl pyridinium chloride, NaCl Sodium chloride, BC Benzalkonium chloride
^aTest microbes were P. aeruginosa, S. typhi, E. coli, Bacillus cereus, S. epidermidis, S. aureus, K. pneumonia, A. niger and C. albicans. % = n/N × 100

ISSN: 1471-2180