Ace the MDRAO Challenge 2025 – Unleash Your Medical Device Mastery!

Low-Level Disinfectants (LLD) are primarily used for disinfecting non-critical surfaces and items that come into contact with intact skin. However, their efficacy against certain pathogens is limited.

The correct answer identifies that LLDs are not effective against certain more resilient types of pathogens, including fungi, non-enveloped viruses, mycobacteria, and bacterial spores.

Bacterial spores are particularly resistant and often require higher levels of disinfection or sterilization for effective destruction, such as by using high-level disinfectants or sterilants. Non-enveloped viruses and mycobacteria also present challenges for LLDs due to their structural features that offer increased resistance to disinfectants. Fungi can vary, but certain types require a higher level of disinfectant than what LLDs provide.

In contrast, substances such as enveloped viruses and many vegetative bacteria do not exhibit the same level of resistance and can typically be effectively killed by low-level disinfectants. This highlights the importance of selecting the appropriate level of disinfectant based on the specific pathogens present and the type of medical device or surface being treated.