Efficiency of Commonly Used Disinfectants and Antiseptics against Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from Tripoli University Hospital, Libya

Background and objectives: Disinfectants and antiseptics are widely used in hospitals and other healthcare centers to ensure the prevention of nosocomial infections and provide efficient infection control. Numerous studies have recently shown that hospital-acquired bacteria are developing resistance against such compounds. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the commonly used disinfectants and antiseptics against a group of nosocomial bacteria isolated from Tripoli University Hospital, Libya. Material and Methods: Five bacterial pathogens isolated from different hospital departments are klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., Escherichia coli (E. coli), Acinetobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). These isolated bacterial species were subjected to disinfectants and antiseptics impregnated with filter paper discs (disk diffusion assay). The disinfectants and antiseptics used were; Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), OROLIN® Multisept plus (Orolin), Chlorhexidine (CHX), 84 Disinfectant, ACTOSAL® Flache AF (Actosal) and Ethyl alcohol. Results: In the present study found that the most effective was H2O2 antiseptic against the tested bacterial pathogens with inhibition diameters of 10 to 26mm, except for Proteus bacteria which illustrated resistance at high concentrations. Similarly, Orolin disinfectant shows very excellent efficacy against tested bacteria, and even with low concentrations. Good efficacy was observed for Actosal disinfectant on all species with diameters of inhibition ranging from 10 to 15mm. S. aureus in particular was very sensitive to 70% Ethyl alcohol (20mm), while all tested species were slightly insensitive to both Ethyl alcohol and CHX. In contrast, no effect of the 84 disinfectant was observed on most of isolates. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that Orolin disinfectant had comparable effects to H2O2 atiseptic but less than to Actosal, 70% Ethyl alcohol and CHX, whereas 84 disinfectant was the weakest one. This study suggests the necessity of applying continuous monitoring to determine the antimicrobial efficacy of these antimicrobial agents regularly.