Parameters Affecting Vapor Hydrogen Peroxide Biological Indicator Performance

By Eric Gillitzer, Ph.D.

Vapor Hydrogen Peroxide (VHP) under ambient pressure conditions is used in industrial settings to decontaminate aseptic fillings lines. In hospitals, VHP in a pre-vacuum modality is used mainly to sterilize instruments such as endoscopes and others that may be sensitive to high temperature steam. VHP can be considered, relatively speaking, to be a “new” method for sterilization/decontamination. The use of high temperature steam/moist heat, low temperature steam/moist heat, dry heat, and ethylene oxide (EtO) as sterilization techniques have been around for decades. Hydrogen peroxide has only recently started to be used as a means of large-scale decontamination/sterilization.