PhotoxAir significantly reduces airborne bacteria, study finds
Purification system will be further evaluated on viruses and fungi
A medical centre in North Carolina in the US has demonstrated that the PhotoxAir purification system significantly reduces airborne bacteria in clinical trials conducted in an emergency department setting.
The study data was presented at ID Week; the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
The PhotoxAir purification system treats indoor air with a proprietary Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) process that uses a fibrous mat material coated with titanium dioxide and platinum, which is then exposed to UV light. Air is sent through the fibrous mat where multiple catalytic sites adsorb airborne bacteria found in the air. The catalyst is photo-activated by UV light and the adsorbed bacteria are oxidised and destroyed on the catalytic surface.
'The catalytic reduction process in the mobile PhotoxAir unit destroys bacteria, viruses and other contaminants within the unit itself ensuring that no dangerous levels of ozone or formaldehyde are produced,' said Elliot Berman, inventor of the PhotoxAir purification technology.
The catalytic reduction process in the mobile PhotoxAir unit destroys bacteria, viruses and other contaminants within the unit itself
Analysis of the results showed a very significant reduction (p-value of <0.001) of bacterial load from baseline compared with treatment using the PhotoxAir system. The percentage reduction of bacterial load ranged from 26.7% to 54.2% based on sampling location.
'These are encouraging preliminary findings and we will further evaluate this system on other potentially pathogenic airborne contaminants such as viruses and fungi,' said Werner Bischoff, Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology & Prevention at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the study's principal investigator.
'Airborne transmission of pathogens, including flu and other viruses, can result in rapid spread of disease. For example, influenza has been responsible for three pandemics in the last century alone, with an overall death toll reaching tens of millions, and continues to cause annual epidemics of varying severity worldwide. The current understanding of aerosol transmission assumes that a number of human pathogens are spread by respiratory secretions and/or infect by way of the respiratory tract.
'There is a significant need for new technology to help in the battle to reduce airborne transmission of pathogens. Hospitals and medical clinics are continually looking for better ways of controlling airborne microbial loads leading to hospital-associated infections,' said Bischoff.
