An examination of methods for disinfecting a neonatal intensive care unit incubator.

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This study aims to characterize the bacterial species inside closed infant incubators in a high temperature, high humidity environment and to determine the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfecting such incubators. We compared the effectiveness of different cleaning methods: we cleaned one group of incubators in use with disinfectant and another group using a dry wipe without any disinfectants. We did not detect any bacteria from both incubator groups. These results suggest that a high temperature, high humidity environment alone does not increase the amount of bacteria inside an incubator without any other predisposing factors. This implies that the bacteria detected inside an incubator originates from a newborn infant who acquires a bacterial flora after birth or through increased opportunities for contamination through treatment and care.