The 1st multi-surface coating to defeat equine rhinopneumonia
Compliant NF EN 14675
PhotoACTIVE Equine is the only antimicrobial coating in the world that complies with standard NF EN 14675 (Assessment of the virucidal activity of chemical antiseptics and disinfectants used in the veterinary field), and durable for more than one year on surfaces.
PhotoACTIVE Equine has been tested specifically against the HVE1 herpesvirus responsible for equine rhinopneumonia by the independent French laboratory Inovalys.
Experimentation in real conditions
at the Champ du Perier Equine Clinic
Preamble
PhotoACTIVE Equine is the only antimicrobial coating in the world that complies with standard NF EN 14675 (Assessment of the virucidal activity of chemical antiseptics and disinfectants used in the veterinary field), and durable for more than one year on surfaces.
Experimentation in real conditions makes it possible to check that the PhotoACTIVE Equine® technology works as expected, regardless of the surfaces, their cleaning frequency, the degree of dirt brought by healthy or sick animals.
The Champ du Perier Equine Clinic located in Neyron in Ain (01) was chosen to carry out this experiment: specialized only in horses, equipped with an operating room, hospitalization boxes and a laboratory, with FEI approved veterinarians traveling to international competitions.
Equipped areas
The problem of a clinic is to be able to ensure the microbiological cleanliness of surfaces to avoid the transmission of diseases between individuals as well as postoperative infections (nosocomial diseases).
The difficulty of hygiene in an equine clinic is directly correlated to the large size of the animals: dirt on the walls at the tie, hospitalization and recovery areas of 9 / 12 m² per animal against cages for dogs and cats, large equipment such as restraint bars, surgery table etc… It is also impossible to have a sterile horse in view of an operation: hair, earth cannot be completely cleaned.
Washing and rubbing surfaces with disinfectant is a very tedious and difficult step between each patient. This is why these elements have been selected with the advice of veterinarians:
– walls of examination rooms
– padded recovery room walls, door and floor
– surgery table
– support bars and floors
– walls and door of the quarantine box
Microbiological readings
Microbiological readings were taken before the PhotoACTIVE Equine coating was applied on 08/12/22 to obtain average contamination per surface. Then readings are taken periodically to check the effectiveness of the treatment.
The measuring device used is a bioluminometer: the surface is swabbed with a sterile stick, and the device measures the rate of microbiological contamination sampled by analyzing the amount of ATP present.
The unit of measurement is the RLU: Relative Light Unit. The higher this value, the dirtier the surface. For information:
– Less than 150 RLU: clean surface (for medical and agro-food), target value
– Between 151 – 299 RLU: average cleanliness, to be monitored
– Greater than 300 RLU: failure, contaminated surface
| Surface | Photo | Readings before PhotoACTIVE Equine 08/12/22 | Readings after PhotoACTIVE Equine 08/17/22 | Readings after PhotoACTIVE Equine 10/17/22 | eadings after PhotoACTIVE Equine 01/25/23 | eadings after PhotoACTIVE Equine 9/5/23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam Room 1 Walls |  | 1313 | 108 | 143 | 72 | 65 |
| Exam Room 2 Walls |  | 306 | 10 | 14 | 34 | 22 |
| Exam Room 3 Front restraint |  | 628 | 83 | 56 | 65 | 150 |
| Exam Room 3 Rear restraint |  | 307 | 18 | 80 | 87 | 142 |
| Exam Room 4 Front restraint |  | 565 | 52 | 132 | 62 | 36 |
| Exam Room 4 Rear restraint | | 870 | 81 | 93 | 74 | 89 |
| Recovery Room Door |  | 5315 | 130 | 120 | 83 | 122 |
| Recovery Room Walls |  | 5886 | 105 | 27 | 94 | 21 |
| Surgery table Front |  | 324 | 47 | 27 | 36 | 108 |
| Surgery table Rear | | 382 | 26 | 31 | 22 | 146 |
| Quarantine box Door |  | 542 | 39 | 64 | 101 | 105 |
Results interpretation
Measures before PhotoACTIVE Equine
The results of the contamination before the installation of the coating (in red) are consistent with the use made of the premises: the surgery table is on average at 350 RLU, i.e. a normal value for a surface disinfected several days ago ( 48 hours without surgery at the time of the test).
Examination room 1 is very often used, and Examination room 2 more rarely, the measurements agree. The slightly grainy painted walls of room 1 reflect a classic contamination on this type of material.
The restraint instruments in Examinations 3 and 4 show concordant contamination rates on the metal: bacteria grow less easily there than on other substrates.
The Quarantine box had not been used for a week at the time of the test.
The Recovery room is the most problematic place in the clinic with values above 5000 RLU: the porous fiber texture to absorb shock also retains fluids and rinsing water. Despite decontamination the day before, the substrate remains highly contaminated.
In conclusion, the place, although properly cleaned and disinfected periodically, shows microbial growth on the surfaces inherent to the passage of animals. The recovery room, on the other hand, is difficult to fully disinfect, and microbial growth there is exponential given the residual humidity of the support.
Here is video of the microbiological survey of the wall in the recovery room with the value of 5886 RLU recorded, on 08/12/22, before the PhotoACTIVE Equine coating was applied.
Results interpretation
Measures after PhotoACTIVE Equine
from August 2022 to September 2023
Post-coating contamination results show values below 150 RLU, the target value for microbiologically clean surfaces.
The first readings were taken on 08/17/22, i.e. one week after the coating was applied: this measurement makes it possible to verify that PhotoACTIVE Equine has been correctly applied to the identified surfaces.
A second reading was taken on 10/17/22, i.e. two months after the PhotoACTIVE Equine coating was laid: it can be seen that the RLU values read are still low, despite the intensive use of the premises.
The recovery room, despite its porous and flexible surface, shows extremely low rates, only possible thanks to the continuous action of PhotoACTIVE Equine.
A measurement taken in January confirms the effectiveness of the coating 5 months later.
The experiment continued until September 2023, which is one year after the application of the PhotoACTIVE nanocoating. The recorded measurements still meet the expected values, being below 150 RLU. A general trend is emerging with several values ranging between 100 and 150 RLU, indicating that it’s time to reapply the coating.
PhotoACTIVE Equine is the only nanocoating that provides long-term disinfection of surfaces. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated for 1 year at the Clinique du Champ du Perier, a clinic specialized in equine medicine and surgery managed by a team of veterinarians affiliated with the FEI.
Here is video of the microbiological survey of the wall in the recovery room with the value of 27 RLU recorded 2 months after the PhotoACTIVE Equine coating was applied.
