218 Dramatic Improvement in Endoscope Cleanliness Using a Commercial Bioburden Detection System and Implementation of a Modified Cleaning Algorithm

and 2 upper endoscopes on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 following standard protocol for mechanical cleaning and high level disinfection using an automated endoscope reprocessor. Endoscopes were stored hanging per institutional practice. A 1mL aliquot of each sample was inoculated onto trypticase soy agar with 5% sheep blood (blood agar), thiogycollate broth, a CDC anaerobic blood agar plate, and Sabouraud dextrose agar (for yeast and molds). All media were incubated at 2535C for 7 days. Organisms were identified using standard microbiological techniques; results were reported in colony forming units. Results: There were 33 positive cultures from 28 out of the 96 sites tested (29.2% overall contamination rate). 30/33 isolates were typical skin or environmental contaminants, thus clinically insignificant (Table 1). Three potential pathogens were cultured, including