20 Sanitation Canada SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

infection prevention

nfectious diseases caused bymicrobes constitute a tena-cious and major public-health problem all over the

world. Notably, healthcare-associated in-fections (HAIs) are the leading cause ofdeath in acute care hospitals in bothCanada and the United States.

New infectious diseases are constantlyemerging and old ones, that were thoughtto be under control, are regaining lostground. Microbes smartly change theirgenetic make-up, which further chal-lenges the development ofantimicrobials.

The World Health Organization(WHO) has classified antimicrobial re-sistance as a “serious threat” to everyregion of the world. Additionally, sev-eral recent reports suggest that by 2050,antimicrobial resistant infections will kill10 million people across the world – far

Necessity of Disinfectionand Sanitization

more than the current toll from cancer.Ironically, considering the length of

time (approximately a decade) and hugeresources (billions of dollars) involvedin antibiotic discovery, researchers andseveral big pharmaceutical companieshave abandoned exploration of antimi-crobial agents.

The high cost, chances of failure andother limitations associated with the an-tibiotic discovery process, takes us an-other step back and focuses on the pre-cise use of disinfectants / sanitizers tocontrol microbial growth.

Effective and systematic use of dis-infectants must be instilled to preventhealth-care-associated infection (HAI).

Disinfection and sanitization are thefirst lines of defence for controlling dis-ease-causing microbes. Undoubtedly, pre-vention is better than having to find acure – thus the constant development ofnovel and effective disinfectants, as wellas methodology to control microbialgrowth is urgently required.

Unfortunately, the general publics’perception regarding the non-essential-ity of cleaning products has become abig discouragement for cleaning productresearch and development laboratoriesand manufacturers. Additionally, govern-ment support of cleaning product re-search and development is not substan-tial, compared to funding for researchinstitutions carrying out antibiotic discov-ery and clinical research.

Insufficient financial investment inresearch and development limits manu-facturers to produce innovative and effi-cient disinfectants, as well as develop newapplication techniques and proper train-ing procedures.

There must be a paradigm shift in theminds of those who believe that clean-ing products are non-essential, and theirusage and application protocols are notimportant – as opposed to the dedica-tion shown to following prescriptionscripts.

I

Being pro-active to minimize the havoc of antibiotic resistanceBy ATUL K. SINGH, Ph.D.,Director of Production &

Research, TruClean Solutions

Continued On Page 26

The

26 Sanitation Canada SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

Allspar Solutions Inc. – Page 13www.allspar.on.ca

Buckeye International Inc. – Page 7www.buckeyeinternational.com

Clorox Professional ProductsCompany – Inside Front Cover & Page 3www.cloroxprofessional.com

Deb Canada – Page 11www.debgroup.com

Electrolux Home Car Products –Outside Back Coverwww.sanitairevac.com

G.T. French Paper Ltd. – Page 18www.gtfrench.ca

Jan-Mar Sales Ltd. – Pages 14 & 15www.jan-mar.com

Lambskin Specialties/AG – Page 21www.lambskin.com

M2 Professional CleaningProducts Ltd. – Page 25www.m2mfg.com

Newell Rubbermaid – Page 9www.newellrubbermaid.com

Procter & Gamble – Inside Back Coverwww.pgpro.ca

Proteam Inc. – Page 19www.pro-team.com

SCA/Tork – Page 5www.sca.com

Spartan Chemical Company, Inc. –Page 10 – www.spartanchemical.com

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

Continued From Page 18

Continued From Page 20infection prevention

industry event

employee – plus provide lessons gleanedfrom his popular TV show. Being heldon Fri. Oct. 23 at 1 p.m., this session willalso feature the ISSA Awards Luncheon.

More information is available atwww.issa.com/keynotes.

SHOW FLOOR HAPPY HOURThe opportunities for learning don’t

end there. With thousands of cleaningprofessionals from around the worldwalking the show flow, ISSA/INTERCLEAN offers one of the mostvaluable educational opportunities of all:networking with peers. To make the mostof this valuable mix of the industry elite,the schedule includes several networking

events, including:• The Show

Floor Happy Hourwill be held Thurs.,Oct. 22 from 4 to 5p.m.. This event willsee over 40 exhibi-tors, including thosein the outdoor ex-hibit area, offeringhospitality and raffletickets for prizes.

• The ISSAof the show because it allows him tospend time getting to know vendors.

“I think there’s huge value in spend-ing time with manufacturers,” he said.“They begin to understand how much wecare about our customers’ needs, whichhelps when I have to call at 8 o’clock atnight to ask for (more product).”

For more information on ISSA/INTERCLEAN, visit www.issa.com/show.To register, go to www.issa.com/register.

Complete information is also availablein the show mobile app, sponsored byR3 Reliable Redistribution Resource,available at www.issa.com/mobile. Theshow floor will also offer free WiFi,thanks to SupplyWorks.

We must understand the importanceof cleaning products to better humanlives. We must also understand specifiedconcentrations and contact times of dis-infectants, and use these products cor-rectly in order to achieve maximum effi-ciency.

Not surprisingly, bacteria also devel-ops resistance towards disinfectants.However, with proper usage, the proc-ess of resistance can be tightly control-led. Unlike antibiotics, controlling theproblems associated with disinfectantsand sanitizers are reasonably easy, safe(with no direct side effects to the humanbody), less time consuming and very costeffective.

Overall, the importance of disinfec-tion and sanitization requires more atten-tion in an effort to control the rising riskof antibiotic resistance.

Dr. Atul Singhis a Ph.D. inBio ch emi s t r yand has exten-sive research ex-perience in thefield of antibi-otic resistancedevelopment in various infectious bacte-ria. He did his post-doctoral researchwork at the Department of Microbiol-ogy and Immunobiology, Harvard Medi-cal School and Illinois State University.Dr. Singh works as Director, Research& Production at TruClean Solutions, aToronto-based Canadian manufacturerof high quality cleaning products. Hemay be reached at atul@truclean.ca.

About The Author

LinkedIn Reception will be held Thurs.,Oct. 22, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the ISSAResource Centre, Booth 899 (during theShow Floor Happy Hour). The receptionwill allow members to meet face-to-faceand win even more prizes. To join thegroup of 23,000-plus industry profes-sionals, just search “ISSA – The World-wide Cleaning Industry” on LinkedInunder “Groups” and click “Join.” To at-tend the reception just print out the invi-tation or show you are a member on yoursmartphone.

For Charlie Moody, owner of facilitymaintenance supply company Solutex Inc.,who has attended the trade show for 20years, the networking aspect is the best part