A randomized trial found that the use of UV-C machines can cut transmission of four major superbugs by a cumulative 30 percent, according to an article on the Infection Control Today website.
The study was led by Duke Health and published in The Lancet. Its results are specific to patients who stay overnight in a room where someone with a known positive culture or infection of a drug-resistant organism had previously been treated.
The researchers focused on: MRSA, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), C. difficile and Acinetobacter.
The facilities studied used a portable machine called the Tru-D SmartUV-C to disinfect rooms where patients with the target bacteria had been staying.