Infectious Waste and Sodium Hypochlorite Disinfection: Resistance Evaluation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Strains and Efficacy for Inactivation of SARS-COV-2

Aída Cristina do N. Silva

Collective Health Institute, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract: The infectious fractions of Healthcare Wastes (HCW) require the mandatory pre-treatment of generated biological materials in order to reduce or inactivate the microbial load. In this global health crisis, the WHO (2020) recommends the use of sodium hypochlorite in the inactivation of biological risk agents on surfaces, such as SARS-COV-2. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the chemical disinfection process using 2% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) in the elimination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from clinical isolates, compared to the traditional sterilization method (autoclaving). The efficacy of disinfection by NaClO was evaluated following the inactivation of the biologic agent, which was previously cultured and inoculated in Lowenstein Jensen media during the experiment. The concentration of free chlorine in the disinfectant was 2%, exposure times of 30 minutes to 4 hours between NaClO and the M. tuberculosis colonies were chosen for 65 isolates. The results of the disinfection assays using 2% NaClO indicated there was effective inactivation of the M. tuberculosis in the clinical isolates from individuals positive for TB bacilli by microscopy (+++), when compared to the efficacy of sterilization by autoclaving and the literature appoint that NaclO has been recommended with the potential inactivating the new agent SARS-COV-2.