Evaluation of Petrifilm™ aerobic count plates as an equivalent alternative to drop plating on R2A agar plates in a biofilm disinfectant efficacy test.

This paper compares Petrifilm™ aerobic count (AC) plates to drop plating on R2A agar plates as an alternative method for biofilm bacteria enumeration after application of a disinfectant. A Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm was grown in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention biofilm reactor (ASTM E2562) and treated with 123 ppm sodium hypochlorite (as free chlorine) according to the Single Tube Method (ASTM E2871). Aliquots from the same dilution tubes were plated on Petrifilm™ AC plates and drop plated on R2A agar plates. The Petrifilm™ AC and R2A plates were incubated for 48 and 24 h, respectively, at 36 ± 1 °C. After nine experimental runs performed by two technicians, the mean difference in biofilm log densities [log biofilm density (LD) = log10(CFU/cm(2))] between the two methods for control coupons, treated coupons, and log reduction (LR) was 0.052 (p = 0.451), -0.102 (p = 0.303), and 0.152 (p = 0.313). Equivalence testing was used to assess equivalence of the two plating methods. The 90 % confidence intervals for the difference in control and treated mean LDs between methods were (-0.065, 0.170) and (-0.270, 0.064), both of which fall within a (-0.5, +0.5) equivalence criterion. The 90 % confidence interval for the mean LR difference (-0.113, 0.420) also falls within this equivalence criterion. Thus, Petrifilm™ AC plates were shown to be statistically equivalent to drop plating on R2A agar for the determination of control LDs, treated LDs, and LR values in an anti-biofilm efficacy test. These are the first published results that establish equivalency to a traditional plate counting technique for biofilms and for a disinfectant assay.