Bioquell’s 35% hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) system (photo shows the Bioquell Q-10 portable decontamination ‘suite’) for the decontamination of Ebola exposed environments has already been successfully used in the UK, the US, France, and the Netherlands, for disinfecting rooms or ambulances used to treat Ebola patients, the company reports.
HPV ‘has the ability to eliminate all pathogens, including spores, from all surfaces’, Bioquell explained. The company said: “Numerous studies with prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Yale have shown HPV to reduce infection rates for spore forming pathogens like C. difficile and Gram negative pathogens such as Acinetobacter.”
With Ebola cases reaching the US, many hospitals are setting up Ebola preparedness protocols. Some, such as Rome Memorial Hospital in New York, are already fully equipped to handle a case should it present itself. Rome Memorial is already using Bioquell’s HPV technology to fight more common infections. Leanna Grace, from the hospital’s infection prevention team, said: “When the patient leaves here the room has to be cleaned first, and we’d have people in special protective equipment to clean the room, and then we would put the Bioquell robot in. It would then take care of whatever might be lingering.”
Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Burlison Ltd
