With MRSA responsible for the deaths of 100 patients each week, the battle to combat so-called superbugs has to become an airborne offensive if it and other hospital acquired infections are to be defeated.
Cleaning the air within hospital wards – a new approach to infection control aimed at prevention rather than cure – has been shown to be a breakthrough when added to current hygiene regimes that rely on hand washing and surface cleaning. If adopted, super-efficient air purifiers could not only save lives, but they could save money too.
Experts believe that 300,000 infections are picked up in healthcare settings every year, causing 5,000 deaths, being a factor in possibly 15,000 more, and costing the NHS as much as £1.1 billion.
Clinical research has proved that filtering the air with devices capable of removing up to 99.9% of microorganisms massively reduces the MRSA surface contamination on the shelves, beds and the floor in the rooms of patients known to be heavy dispersers of the bacteria.
A study by Dr Tim Boswell, consultant microbiologist at Nottingham City Hospital, using the portable Swiss-made IQAir equipment supplied by Air Science of Stroud, demonstrated that MRSA can be transferred in the air as much as by hand inside hospitals, and that air cleaning could prevent settlement and the risk of cross-infection.
Dr Boswell explained: “We found a reduction in the rate of contamination of MRSA on horizontal surfaces of between 75% and 96%. This is highly significant, especially when the statistical tests were applied, and left us in no doubt as to the value of these machines. We think that filtering the air is likely to be a very valuable additional measure to employ for infection control teams working within hospitals.”
A range of IQAir machines was launched at the summit. Units are available in different sizes and can be floor, wall or ceiling mounted, built into air supply ducting, and combined with positive or negative pressure air flows for isolation rooms and ventilation barriers. At a cost of around £1,800, a single bedside unit would pay for itself twice by preventing a single case of MRSA, and many times over within its first year.
Claire Rayner, president of the Patients Association, commented: “We welcome the concept of air cleaning as a wholly new initiative to complement conventional ways to manage hospital acquired infections. The clinical study of patients with MRSA shows its effectiveness under real ward conditions. This practice deserves serious consideration in the interests of patients who remain at risk because of the failure of existing infection control techniques.”
Steve Read, managing director of Air Science, a British company hoping to see the system used throughout the NHS, said: “If existing methods of preventing hospital infections based on hand washing are not enough, as is now obvious, and money is tight, an answer would be to find a new technique – one that is revolutionary, easy to manage, very effective and pays for itself quickly. IQAir air purifiers are available now for immediate installation to benefit patients, the health service and the reputations of all who manage it.”
The portable versions are typically wheeled to a bedside or located one or two to a bay, and are suited to home use by convalescents or people with asthma. They provide the only portable air filtration system meeting the world’s most stringent HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter test standard. They are quiet, easy to operate and have minimal running expenses and maintenance requirements.
