Investigating the antimicrobial efficacy of two aerosolised hydrogen peroxide fumigation cycles for biological safety cabinet decontamination

Clicks: 2
ID: 319534
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #175 of 175 articles by views in Journal of applied microbiology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 175 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
AIMS: Fumigation of biological safety cabinets (BSCs) is essential for their safe use, maintenance and quality assurance of work performed. Hydrogen peroxide (HP) is frequently used as an alternative fumigant to formaldehyde, applied either at high concentrations (>30%) in vapour phase, or low concentrations (5-12%) as an aerosol (aHP). There is however limited evidence on the efficacy of low concentration aerosolised HP (aHP) fumigation to inactivate microorganisms within BSCs. This study evaluates the antimicrobial efficacy of aHP within a BSC III, comparing fumigation cycle parameters against a range of microorganisms. METHODS AND RESULTS: Biological indicators (BIs) were prepared by inoculating stainless steel coupons with either Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Mycobacterium fortuitum. BIs were placed within a BSC III and fumigated with one or six diffusion cycles of aHP, with one diffusion cycle recommended for routine decontamination and six diffusion cycles advised for pre-maintenance decontamination, providing increased aHP quantity and exposure time. Fumigation with one aHP diffusion achieved a > 6 log10 reduction in G. stearothermophilus spore CFU, with 2.24 and 0.46 log10 average reductions for MRSA and M. fortuitum respectively. Six-diffusion fumigation achieved significantly reduced CFU counts for all microorganisms (average log10 reductions of 7.05, 5.25 and 5.26 for G. stearothermophilus, MRSA and M. fortuitum respectively). Incomplete BI inactivation was however observed for all microorganisms. CONCLUSIONS: Increased aHP diffusion cycles enhanced microbial reductions; however, complete elimination of microorganisms was not observed. BIs which represent likely contaminated microorganisms should be used when validating fumigation effectiveness.
Reference Key
openalex_W7167260575 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Sam Watkin, Sean Collins, Hineshaben Patel, Jay Robinson, Simon Parks, Thomas Pottage
Journal Journal of applied microbiology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/jambio/lxag154
URL
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.