Significant impact of terminal room cleaning with bleach on reducing nosocomial Clostridium difficile.

Background: We were alerted to increased rates of Clostridium difficile-positive tests at all 3 hospitals in our health care system by MedMined Data Mining Surveillance Service, CareFusion (San Diego, CA). In response, an intervention of terminal room cleaning with dilute bleach was instituted to decrease the amount of C difficile environmental spore contamination from patients with C difficile infection (CDI).

Methods: The intervention consisted of replacing quaternary ammonium compound as a room cleaning agent with dilute bleach to disinfect rooms of patients with CDI upon discharge.