Using ultraviolet light to sterilize intravenous fluids.

Lambert T; Oldendorph D; Gautreaux D

Our Lady of the Lake College

Discussion

Introduction
Nosocomial or hospital acquired infections are
all too common in healthcare facilities. This
forces physicians to order prophylactic
antibiotics to protect the patient from
POSSIBLE infection. Which causes a lot of
overuse of antibiotics and adversely allows the
microbes to start becoming resistant to more
and more medications. There are many ways to
contract one of these infections in the hospital
but the most deadly is by intravenous route
from the medications that are helping the
patients stay alive. The pharmacy compounds
these medications in a clean room. This room
is designed to keep all microbes out, and kill
any that enter. This is a futile attempt and its
only a matter of time before they become
resistant to these techniques. When the
intravenous (IV) bags are made they become a
closed system. The hypothesis of this
research is that ultraviolet light at levels that kill
bacteria will have little to no affect on
medications that are contained within the closed
system of the intravenous fluid bag.

Objectives
To objectively determine if ultraviolet light
can be used to sterilize intravenous
medications before administered to
patients.
To test dosed medications with ultraviolet
light for efficacy and stereochemistry

Results

Methods
The methods were of the researchers design.
The medication stability was determine using
three different methods. These included: FTIR
and susceptibility plate. Each sample was
dissolved in an organic solvent.
Vancomycin (DMSO)
Penicillin G Sodium (DMSO 71mg/ml)
Amoxicillin (methanol 7.5 mg/ml)
Ultraviolet light dosage:
Group
1
2
3
4
5

Dose (mJ/cm2)
0
120
120
300
300

Time (minutes)
2
5
2
5

Analysis
The data was analyzed by graphing the
susceptibility of Staphylococcus Aureus to
the antibiotics that were dosed with ultraviolet
light. The test was performed on a 96-count
micro well plate. 200 uL of antibiotic
suspension were added to the plates (in
duplicates). This was allowed to evaporate
for a week then 300 uL of s. Aureus broth
was added to each well so that approximately
the same amount of bacteria would be in
each well. The wells were allowed to
incubate over a 36 hour period then the
samples were ready for turbidity on a plate
reader. FT-IR was also used to determine
conformation.

Figure 4: In this figure it is shown the susceptibility of

s. Aureus to the dosed medications.

Amoxicillin

Vancomycin

Penicillin

Figures 1- 15 Show the FT-IR results of antibiotics after dosing with

ultraviolet light.

References
1. Heath J; Garvey M; Rowan N. (2015) A pulsed light system
for the disinfection of flow through water in the presence of
inorganic contaminants. Retrieved from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26042973

Amoxicillin
Vancomycin

Penicillin

The hypothesis of this research is that

ultraviolet light at levels that kill bacteria
will have little to no effect on medications
that are contained within the closed
system of the intravenous fluid bag.
Turbidity of inoculated wells was
examined with a plate reader. It is
determined that there was no statistically
relevant changes in turbidity that could
have been seen in a trend. It is possible
that different amounts of bacteria were in
the wells which could have given these
results. It was not determined that the
medications themselves were affected.
When one duplicate was higher or lower
than the control so was the other.