A lot of healthcare communities, including long-term care, invested in ultraviolet-C light to kill germs during the pandemic. But new research has found that UV-C doesn’t do much to curtail healthcare-associated multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs).
The study was published on Aug. 30 in Epidemiology & Infection. It was a review and meta-analysis, so it looked at nine studies. The research was on UV-C devices on the incidence of Clostridioides difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria.
UV-C is a specific type of ultraviolet light. It’s germicidal, which means it can stop bacteria, viruses and other pathogens from multiplying and leading to infections.
The researchers didn’t find a statistically significant reduction in C. difficile or VRE. The risk of gram-negative rod infection was reduced, but there weren’t many studies reporting on it.
Overall, the team said there wasn’t much of a difference when it comes to reducing the incidence of superbug germs.
“We found no advantages for the use of UV-C in healthcare settings as an adjunct to conventional infection prevention modalities to reduce the incidence of MDRO,” the study authors wrote.
In 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about UV lights being used during the height of the pandemic. Specifically, they told people not to use UV wands for disinfection purposes because the wands could produce unsafe levels of UV-C radiation. The UV radiation exposure could harm eyes, skin or both within just a few seconds of using the wand, the FDA said.
