Robert Koch Institute Updates Guidelines With Probiotic Cleaning
- March 9, 2023
The Robert Koch Institute, the internationally recognised hospital hygiene authority, has updated its hygiene requirements for surface cleaning.
They now include probiotics as a sustainable and proven way to contribute to improved hospital hygiene by creating more beneficial surface microbiology in hospitals and other health facilities.
The newly released recommendation by the Robert Koch Institute Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention (available in German only) states in its 6.3 section about probiotic cleaning that ‘the use of probiotics on surfaces in medical facilities is an interesting approach because probiotic bacteria form a long-term stable microbiome, while the success of disinfection only lasts for a short time.
“Furthermore, disinfectants are known to stimulate the development of cross-resistance to antibiotics, which is not the case with probiotic cleaning products”.
One of the scientists cited in the Robert Koch Institute guidelines, Dr Tilman Klassert from Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, emphasizes: The inclusion of probiotic cleaning is the result of several years of research that resulted in solid evidence about how it can be used as an effective ally against nosocomial infections, a major problem that needs proper attention.
