Comparative Analysis of Environmental Disinfection Methods: Hydrogen Peroxide Vaporization Versus Standard...

Background/Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of disinfection and quarantine significantly increased, particularly in situations of staff shortages. Automated disinfection methods, such as hydrogen peroxide vaporization (HPV), are increasingly considered as alternatives to traditional manual disinfection. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of HPV compared to standard disinfection practices. Methods: Experiments were conducted at the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Simulation Center of Soonchunhyang University Hospital using Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores as biological indicators. The spores were inoculated on various hospital surfaces and allowed to dry for 120 min. Three disinfection methods were tested: (1) scrubbing with a disposable towel soaked in sodium hypochlorite; (2) placing sodium hypochlorite-soaked towels on the surface for one minute; and (3) HPV alone. Samples were collected post-disinfection and incubated at 55-60 °C. Bacterial cultures were assessed after 24, 48, and 168 h. Results: After 24 h of incubation, sterilization rates were 0% for the scrubbing method, 27% for sodium hypochlorite towels, 68% for HPV alone, and 95% for the combination of sodium hypochlorite and HPV. HPV alone demonstrated statistically greater efficacy compared to standard disinfection practices (p = 0.03). Conclusions: HPV alone may serve as a viable disinfection method in clinical environments, particularly during pandemics when staffing limitations hinder thorough manual cleaning. Further clinical trials are warranted to validate these findings and improve disinfection methods for challenging materials such as fabrics.