Assessment of occupational exposure to airborne chlorine dioxide of healthcare workers using impregnated wipes during high-level disinfection of non-lumened flexible nasoendoscopes.

Routine flexible nasoendoscopy in otolaryngology clinics is well established, the rate-limiting step of which being the speed of the nasoendoscopes reprocessing method used. Non-lumened flexible nasoendoscopes are expensive, heat-sensitive, delicate instruments that cannot be sterilized in an autoclave but must be disinfected by means of high level disinfection (HLD). In one of the public hospitals in Singapore, the method of disinfection was recently changed to the use of commercial impregnated wipes which generates less than 1% chlorine dioxide upon activation.