BS EN 17111:2018

The EN 17111 is a virology phase 2 step 2 surface test designed for disinfection of medical instruments. Although this is a medical standard it can also be used for other products where disinfection would be done by immersion. Some common products that this may include are disinfectants for hairdressers. If the disinfection will not be carried out by immersion, then a more relevant standard may be the EN 16777. Usually before any step 2 testing is carried out the relevant step 1 test would be completed as if the step 1 fails the step 2 has very little chance of passing and they are usually bigger tests.

Although the EN 17111 is a surface test it is unlike most others. This is because the surface with dried organisms is fully submerged in the test product rather than having a small amount put over the top of it. Due to this it may be easier to achieve than the like of tests such as EN 16777. Usually, you can get away with a longer contact time as well which also give you a better chance of passing. For the EN 17111 the carrier that the organism and interfering substance mix is dried onto is frosted glass. Once dry we take the glass and fully submerge it in product so the requested contact time. Once the time is up we recover the organisms that are left and grow them up on their cells. A similar process is done for the water control and the log reduction of the test product is worked out by subtracting the log of the test product from that of the control. If the number is greater than 4 then the product has passed and a reduction of 99.99% of virus has been achieved.

Virtually any virus can be added to the EN 17111 to make a specific claim. For example we can add coronavirus or influenza. There are many other organisms that can be added and some of the popular ones will be on our virus fact sheets. If the thing you are looking for isn’t here please give us a call and we can see what we can do for you.

Unlike a lot of other virus tests the EN 17111 has fixed organisms for different product types and they are mandatory to claim against the test standard. The norovirus, adenovirus and the parvovirus are all non-enveloped and generally harder to kill than enveloped viruses so testing a instrument disinfection product can be a little harder to achieve depending on your active.

The table shows what the standard states as the test parameters but often the NHS will insist on different conditions. This could be 30 second contact time or dirty conditions even when the standards state otherwise. If you are testing for a specific tender, you should check the requirements of this before testing.