Figure 3.

Exposure to germinants reduces recovery of viable Clostridium difficile spores on environmental surfaces. Stainless steel carriers (1 cm²) were placed on a hospital bedside table and inoculated with 6 log₁₀ colony forming units (CFU) of C. difficile R20291 (A), VA17 (B), ATCC 43598 (C), and VA11 (D). Carriers were sprayed until uniformly wet with test solutions and allowed to air dry. After 24 hours of incubation at room temperature, the spores were recovered from carriers and the log₁₀CFU of viable and germinated spores was determined. The means of triplicate data from 2 experiments are presented (N = 6). Error bars indicate standard error.