- LONDON (ANI) -- A year long
trial of a negative air ioniser in an intensive care ward of a hospital
in the UK has proven to be a complete success story with hundred percent
elimination of air-borne infections of the bacteria acinetobacter.
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- In the first such epidemiological study, researchers
found that the infection rate fell to zero during the trial. "We were
absolutely astounded to find such clear cut results," engineer Clive
Begg at the University of Leeds, UK, was quoted as saying in New Scientist.
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- Stephen Dean, a consultant at the St James's Hospital
in Leeds where the trial took place says: "The results have been fantastic
so much so that we have asked the university to leave the ionisers with
us."
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- he ionisers produce negative air ions that collide with
suspended particles and give them a charge. The scientists believe charged
particles aggregate together and fall out of the air, thereby disinfecting
the atmosphere and stopping the transmission of infection.
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- Acinetobacter infections are often very difficult to
treat as the bacterium is resistant to many antibiotics. It poses no real
threat to healthy humans but can cause serious infections in people with
weakened immune systems.
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- About 10 per cent of infections in the UK's public hospitals
have been estimated to be airborne, but Kerr says it may be even higher,
as conventional methods to sample airborne bacteria are inefficient, the
report further adds. (ANI)
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