New cleanser developed to fight hospital bacteria
The green cleaning products company Chrisal has used probiotics to develop a cleaning agent it says will help Belgium overcome its high rate of hospital bacterial infections
Belgium has high rate of infection
A study published by the American science magazine PLOS One states that the use of Chrisal cleaning products reduces the number of hospital infections by 64%. The cleaning products contain bacteria that deconstruct microscopic particles thus removing the food on which harmful bacteria feed. “We can save thousands of lives,” Chrisal CEO Robin Temmerman told De Tijd. Chrisal, founded in 1989, concentrates on sustainable cleaning and antibacterial products that use probiotics.
Hospital bacteria are resistant to most antibiotics and are therefore difficult to combat. It is a problem that has been raised by the World Health Organisation for several years.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 7.1% of all Belgian hospital patients are infected by bacteria. In 2012, there were 111,276 cases. In Europe, only Portugal and Iceland do worse. The European average is 3.5%.
The Scientific Institute of Public Health, however, puts these statistics in perspective by pointing out that hospitals in other European countries don’t participate as extensively in these studies as Belgium does.
