Doing battle with hospital infections

An innovative air sterilization technology designed to assist troops on the battlefield soon may be protecting hospital patients from deadly infections, report researchers from New York's University at Buffalo. The news comes as hospital-acquired infections, many of which are becoming increasingly difficult to treat, are on the rise.

In tests funded by the Department of Defense, scientists have shown the device can eradicate greater than 99.9999% of the spores of an anthrax surrogate in an airstream. "That's better than any conventional technology on the market," reveals James F. Garvey, professor of chemistry. "We input 1,000,000 live, active spores of a thermally resistant bacterium into the device and only one live spore comes out."

Through compressive heating and pressure oscillations that break up and kill pathogens, the dual-use technology (called BioBlower) can be expected to eradicate even the smallest of airborne biological pathogens--such as bacteria, spores, viruses, influenza (including bird flu), pollen, and mold--rapidly and continuously. That contrasts with the current conventional technology, HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) paper filters, which trap large airborne spores and need to be changed frequently, stored carefully, and subsequently destroyed.

"With HEPA filters, the spores are still alive once they're collected, waiting to infect somebody," Garvey says. "We, however, kill them at the source."

The issue could not be of more critical importance to the health care market. "The Centers for Disease Control says going to the hospital is the fourth biggest killer in this country" because of the high incidence of hospital-acquired infections, a problem that rapidly is contributing to spiraling health care costs, Garvey explains.

In addition, the device could be made compact enough to turn an ordinary hospital room into an instant isolation unit, or as large as necessary to install in a building's HVAC system to provide purified air throughout an entire facility.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning