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Devices & Diagnostics, Hospitals, SYN
What looks like a fog machine is actually a high-tech, superbug-fighting device that hospitals are using to prevent infections like MRSA and C. Difficile.
Altapure LLC has just launched a more portable model of its ultrasonic sterilization device that kills pathogens in large areas like hospital operating and patient rooms.
The machine’s technology, developed in a partnership with ITT Exelis (NYSE:XLS), creates pressure waves at the surface of common liquid cleaning agents like peracetic acid or hydrogen peroxide and disperses a thick fog made up of sub-micron-sized droplets that spreads quickly throughout a room, clings to surfaces and eradicates harmful pathogens.
An average-sized hospital room can be sterilized with the device in seven to 10 minutes and reoccupied within 30 minutes, said Altapure President Carl L. Ricciardi. The initial device demonstrated a 100 percent kill rate in testing with medical-grade spores of geobacillus stearothermophilus and bacillus atrophaeus, according to the company.
One-in-20 hospitalized patients contract a hospital-acquired infection, an alarming number when coupled with the increasing antibiotic resistance of these bacteria.
“This whole, large-scale sterilization is a paradigm shift for hospitals,” Ricciardi said. “Hospitals are realizing that the old way of cleaning doesn’t work, and we’re seeing that the marketplace is starting to adopt it and embrace that they’ve got to do a better job.”
Other large-scale sterilizing methods use nozzle technology, Ricciardi said, and can leave a wet residue. Others use ultraviolet light and don’t penetrate some places. The EPA-approved fog produced by Altapure’s system contains 3 trillion to 5 trillion droplets of solution per cubic foot and does not leave residue on surfaces, he said.
Recently, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that half of C. difficile infections were present at the time a patient was admitted to a hospital, and many of them were likely acquired in a medical facility outside of the hospital. In addition to use in hospitals, these large-scale sterilization devices could also become important in doctors’ offices and nursing homes.
Altapure is located in South Bend, Indiana at Innovation Park.
TSX Venture Exchange has a strong history of helping early stage health and life sciences companies raise patient capital for research and development purposes.
Daniel Lubienietzky, Toronto Stock Exchange
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Tom Gentile, CEO of Spirit AeroSystems & Richard Gephardt, Co-founder of SolidaritUS Health
hospitals, Indiana, medical devices, Startups
In a webinar sponsored by Wheel, health tech executives will explore how telehealth is increasingly becoming the first point of interaction between patients and providers and the potential for hybrid care models to improve the patient experience, health outcomes, and deliver cost savings.
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Professor Colin Espie, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Big Health
Get the latest industry news first when you subscribe to our newsletter.
The rising cost of employer-sponsored healthcare makes it difficult for American businesses to compete globally. That doesn’t have to be the reality. Learn how one company changed its trajectory.
Tom Gentile, CEO of Spirit AeroSystems & Richard Gephardt, Co-founder of SolidaritUS Health
TSX Venture Exchange has a strong history of helping early stage health and life sciences companies raise patient capital for research and development purposes.
Daniel Lubienietzky, Toronto Stock Exchange
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