Introduction: Today, disinfection of surfaces by using antimicrobial agents is critical for the prevention and control of pathogens and reduction of infection in hospital. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of two disinfectants against Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the NICU of Shahid Sadoughi Hospital of Yazd in 2017.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study, bacterial culture of samples collected from different surfaces of the NICU and S. aureus isolates were identified using conventional biochemical tests. Peracetic acid and chlorine dioxide various concentrations were used as disinfectants. Their effects against Staphylococcus aureus were determined by Standard disc diffusion method. Data were analyzed by linear mixed models in SPSS version 23.
Results: 39.39% of samples were found to be S. aureus infected. The mean diameter of growth inhibition zone for peracetic acid 0.1% was significantly lower than that for peracetic acid 0.2%, and peracetic acid 0.1% was significantly higher than that for chlorine dioxide (P < 0.001). The comparison of growth inhibition zone diameters for peracetic acid 0.1% and chlorine dioxide disinfectants showed that the average diameter of the inhibition zone created by peracetic acid 0.1% was significantly higher than that created by chlorine dioxide. The most effective disinfectant on S. aureus strains isolated was peracetic acid 0.2% and the least effective disinfectant was chlorine dioxide.
Conclusion: In health care facilities with S. aureus infection, peracetic acid 0.2% can be used effectively to reduce nosocomial infection rate.

Introduction: Fungal aerosols cause life-threatening infections in patients hospitalized in critical wards. Antiseptics and disinfectants have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against the living tissue and inert surfaces microorganisms; hence, they have an essential role in controlling and preventing nosocomial infections. This study aimed to evaluate in vitro antifungal activity of benzalkonium chloride (BAC), chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX), and sodium hypochlorite (SH) against isolated fungal aerosols from the hospital environment.
Materials and Methods: The susceptibility tests were performed on fungal aerosols isolated from various wards of Children’s Medical Center, based on broth microdilution antifungal susceptibility testing of filamentous fungi approved by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M38-A2 document. The isolates included Aspergillus (Aspergillus flavus (n = 14), Aspergillus niger complex (n = 12), Penicillium spp. (n = 14), and Cladosporium spp. (n = 14).
Results: The geometric means (GM) of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of the biocides across all isolates were as follows: BAC, 3.56 µg/ml, CHX, 9.45 µg/ml, and SH, 810.35 µg/ml. The highest range of MICs was found for SH (50-12800 µg/ml), while the lowest range was for BAC (1-16 µg/ml) against all fungal isolates. Generally, BAC showed the highest in vitro activity among disinfectants tested. The lowest MIC₅₀ and MIC₉₀ values were 4 and 8 µg/ml for BAC, followed by 16 and 32 µg/ml for CHX, and 800 and 6400 µg/ml for SH, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings showed that BAC was an effective disinfectant, which can prevent resistant species and fungal pathogens and be used as an alternative to other disinfectants and antiseptics.

Introduction: The application of disinfectant agents is a common way to fight against microorganisms. Although there are different types of disinfectant agents to fight COVID-19, many of them do not have the required quality and efficiency. The present work was aimed to evaluate the quality of the available disinfectant agents using gram-negative E. coli bacteria.
Materials and Methods: In the laboratory phase of the research, the gram-negative E. coli bacteria were used to evaluate the quality of disinfectants. According to the proposed laboratory method, microbial kit was prepared and used to evaluate the performance of disinfectants.
Results: According to the obtained findings, 1.0 mL of the prepared microbial suspension in the test tube, as microbial kit, was used for the quality assessment of the selected disinfectants. In case of growth of microorganisms in optimum conditions, the quality of disinfectants was undesirable, and if microorganisms were not grown, the quality of disinfectants would be appropriate in terms of its effect on gram-negative bacteria.
Conclusion: E. coli can be used as a reliable indicator for assessing the quality of the disinfectant and antiseptic agents used against COVID-19.

Introduction: The use of antiseptics and disinfectants in daily health protocols has a consequence of changing the quality of wastewater to be toxic to microbes. As a result, microbiological wastewater treatment has the potential to not be processed properly. To solve the problem of disinfectant-rich wastewater, a plant-based treatment method can be useful, the implementation of which is a land treatment system for wastewater.
Materials and Methods: The data collection method was carried out through the Mendeley Reference Manager, searching for articles online, and placing the terms “land treatment system”, and “disinfectant-rich wastewater”. The selected articles were up-to-date and had a significant relationship between the two terms.
Results: This sanitation system can be a stretch of land and/or a pond of water, on which plants can grow and process. Normal concentrations of disinfectants for microbial elimination had no negative effects on the growth of various types of plants. Plants continue to live in the stress of water rich in disinfectants, as a condition of their ability to treat wastewater. The involvement of various wastewater treatment media makes evapotranspiration dry bed and evapotranspiration wet bed or wetland ponds capable of processing various pollutants. This approach can be implemented for on-site and off-site sanitation system.
Conclusion: In this context, under conditions of enrichment of disinfectants in wastewater during the COVID-19 era, the land treatment system becomes feasible to solve the problem of changing the quality of wastewater.

Introduction: It is essential to adopt preventive measures to reduce the prevalence and severity of COVID-19. Given the insufficient information about the use of disinfectants against the virus, which leads to various risks, this study aims to investigate awareness, performance, and attitudes of the residents of Yazd city regarding using disinfectants to prevent COVID-19.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the sample consisted of 271 people residing in Yazd using convenience sampling method. The tool used was a researcher-made questionnaire, which was reliable, valid, and was divided into two parts; after that the collected data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical tests. SPSS software was used for data processing, and Amos software was used for model design.
Results: Most participants (51.3%) were female. The majority of participants (117 (43.2%)) aged between 30-40, and with an average age of 34.39 ± 9.6. The highest level of education attained by most participants was master's degree by 83 (30.6%) people. The mean and standard deviation for awareness (10.59 ± 2.7), attitude (40.74 ± 7.1), and performance (17.50 ± 5.1) were obtained.  Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis showed that the total effect had the greatest impact on the use of disinfectants, with performance (β = 0.032) and education (β = 0.068) having the strongest effects. Increase in disinfection and having a higher level of education increased the use of disinfectants as well.
Conclusion: As increasing people's awareness, attitude, and performance can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, implementing educational programs and timely comprehensive information dissemination about the use of disinfectants is recommended.