Table 5.

Tampax cup cell density reduction of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC33589) and Escherichia coli (ATCC8739) after 30 seconds cleaning (cfu/ml).

Bacteria	Log cell count positive control	Log cell count test cup	Mean difference log reduction	SE log reduction	Reduction p-value	95% CI
E. coli	5.44 (0.24)	1.81 (0.21)	−3.64	0.32	<0.0,001*	(−4.32, −2.95)
S. aureus	5.28 (0.29)	1.63 (0.21)	−3.64	0.36	<0.0,001*	(−4.44, −2.84)

SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval.

Approximately 500 ul of nAMF (new artificial menstrual fluid) inoculated with 5 × 10⁷cfu/ml was applied to the menstrual cup and allowed to air dry at ambient temperature for approximately 1 h prior to testing Positive control cups (n = 4 and n = 5 for S. aureus and E. coli, respectively) were not cleaned; test cups (n = 8 and n = 9 S. aureus and E. coli, respectively) were cleaned for 30 s with a non-scented, non-antibacterial soap. An ANOVA model with cup treatment as a fixed effect was used to estimate the log reduction resulting from cleaning the menstrual cup with non-antibacterial soap and water.

^*P < 0.05.