Final EN 16615 alias "4-field-test" will be published in 2015

The final EN 16615 will be published in 2015. This is a completely new phase 2 step 2 test protocol for efficacy evaluation of surface disinfection procedures that has been developed mainly by the group of Dr. Jürgen Gebel of the University Hospital in Bonn, Germany. For the first time, a practice-like test is available for efficacy testing of wipe systems, which are used increasingly in the clinical practice. On a large PVC-carrier (20 x 50 cm) the impregnated wipe will be applied with a standardized procedure to simulate the disinfection of small surfaces. Disinfectants can be tested with a defined standard wipe or a different wipe, which is recommend by the manufacturer, also ready to use wipe systems can be tested according to the so called "4-field-test". The name comes from the fact that in this test assay not only the disinfecting efficacy on a contaminated surface is tested, but also the spread to other parts of the carrier. This will be tested on the remaining 3 fields, which have not been contaminated upfront. We participated at the CEN ring trials and established this method in our lab as a standard method. The test results from more than 30 different formulation show that the 4-field-test is challenging for the test preparations.We are performing efficacy testing of wipe systems since 2007. We developed our own method based on the EN 13697 and DGHM 2001, method 14. The published literature and our data are showing that there are many details influencing the efficacy of these systems including application method, impregnation volume and time, type of wipe fabric, processing of the fabric, type of disinfectant solution. We are sure that some of these and other new aspects influencing the efficacy testing of wipe systems will be discussed in the near future.If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.