Paired design of ATP bioluminescence method and colony counting method: whether it is suitable for evaluating the disinfection effect of environmental surface?

Abstract

ATP bioluminescence method has been used as a on-site rapid detection method in nosocomial infections control more and more. In this study, a paired design between four methods/detectors were performed to detect the environmental surface after disinfection. Two methods were ATP bioluminescence method and colony counting method (C), and ATP bioluminescence method included three kinds of detectors (B, P and N). Every surface was performed by two methods/detectors. ATP content per surface from ICU had no statistically significant difference with internal medicine wards of B and P, of which p was 0.435 and 0.260. By Spearman rank correlation coefficients, with the exception of better correlation between ATP content detected by B and P, the correlation between the remaining methods/detectors was poor or had no correlation. And the differences between detectors are statistically significant. Therefor, ATP bioluminescence method may not be suitable for the evaluation of disinfection effect, but be more appropriate for evaluating the cleanliness of environmental surface.