{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T16:34:36Z","timestamp":1786120476878,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779926400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786060800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":71,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100014269","name":"Uniwersytet Medyczny w Bia\u0142ymstoku","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["B.SUB.24.607\/01.S"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B.SUB.24.607\/01.S"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100014269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    The presence of microbial contamination on surfaces in early childhood education facilities poses a significant public health risk. Traditional cleaning methods often fail to fully eliminate pathogens, necessitating the development of more effective disinfection strategies. Hydrogen peroxide fumigation has emerged as a promising approach due to its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, environmental safety, and ability to penetrate biofilms, with potential implications for broader environmental management strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel, fully automated fogging cabinet that generates hydrogen peroxide dry mist for disinfecting toys in educational settings. The most frequently detected bacteria before disinfection included\n                    <jats:italic>Micrococcus luteus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Staphylococcus hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                    , accounting for 30.3\u201340% and 22.8\u201332.2% of total bacterial contamination, respectively. The overall disinfection effectiveness was 97.8%, 97%, and 98.7% across the three tested facilities (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009&lt;\u20090.001). Near-complete eradication (\u2265\u200999%) was observed for\n                    <jats:italic>Acinetobacter lwoffii<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudomonas luteola<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Staphylococcus haemolyticus<\/jats:italic>\n                    . The findings corroborate previous research on the efficacy of hydrogen peroxide disinfection, including studies on public transportation and healthcare settings. The project, conducted with MEDILAB Sp. z o.o., resulted in the development of a portable, automated fogging cabinet for disinfecting toys. A pilot study was carried out in three educational institutions in Bia\u0142ystok, Poland, where 180 microbiological samples were collected from plastic toys before and after disinfection. The process used a hydrogen peroxide-based mist generated inside the cabinet over 30\u00a0min. Samples were incubated, and bacterial colonies were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (VITEK MS). Statistical analysis confirmed the effectiveness of the disinfection method. This study demonstrates that the newly developed hydrogen peroxide-based fogging cabinet is an effective and reliable method for mitigating bacterial contamination on toys in early childhood education facilities. Its automated, contact-free application minimizes human error and ensures consistent disinfection, supporting the broader implementation of hydrogen peroxide fumigation as a standardized disinfection strategy in educational and other high-contact environments. Furthermore, the proposed automated fogging system represents an innovative approach by eliminating human error and ensuring uniform disinfectant distribution.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-026-55618-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T04:20:22Z","timestamp":1779942022000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide fumigation using an automated fogging system for environmental management in educational institutions"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Ewelina","family":"Kruszewska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Piotr","family":"Czupryna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Martonik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Moniuszko-Malinowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"55618_CR1","first-page":"436","volume":"31","author":"C Protano","year":"2019","unstructured":"Protano, C., Cammalleri, V., Romano Spica, V., Valeriani, F. & Vitali, M. 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