Sanitation of Hospital Air Conditioning
Hospital
infections are a serious current problem. One source of
infection is the possibility of airborne bacteria and
viruses being carried through the air conditioning
system.
Current
solutions to this problem involve filtering and UV
treatment. Neither of these two options is
satisfactory. Treatment of the air stream with some
sort of fluid contact is a possibility, but currently no
“high-efficacy” liquid treatments have the safety
profile that would enable them to be used in air
conditioning systems. The principal concern is that
people might breathe small droplets of the working fluid
carried in the air stream.
The current
project involves a patent-granted liquid treatment that
has the safety profile to be used in air conditioning
systems.
The technology is
currently being tested in the UK. A
government-sponsored study has been completed at a major
hospital in the UK. The treatment successfully
completed the study and showed bacteriacidal, viracidal
and sporicidal effects on the battery of organisms
selected for study (included legionnaires disease). A
report on this first study is available under
confidentiality. The system is currently undergoing a
second government sponsored study to refine the
operating parameters.
The treatment is
administered by the insertion of a self-contained
modular unit in the air conditioning system.
The system may
also have application to other air handling systems; for
example it may be possible to sanitize aircraft air
systems whilst the aircraft is on the ground by plugging
a self-contained air conditioning system the aircraft.
The data suggests that removal of a large percentage of
pathogenic organisms in the aircraft air-conditioning
system is possible.
JASRA is currently
seeking a U.S. partner who would introduce this system
to the USA.
