MRSA - Advanced Ozone Technology To Be Trialled In Hospitals

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 03 Jan 2007 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Stockport-based environmental hygiene specialist Steritrox has been awarded a research grant to develop their advanced ozone system to combat the growing threat to public health of MRSA, Clostridium Difficile and other acquired infections in hospitals.


The £168,000 research and development grant was awarded to Steritrox by the Northwest Regional Development Agency on behalf of the Department of Trade & Industry.

The Steritrox system was originally developed for sanitizing high care production facilities in the food industry and is currently being used by some of Europe’s largest food manufactures to control potentially harmful bacteria and contaminants.

The research grant will be used to develop a new portable Steritrox system to be used in hospital wards, operating theatres and general areas when a threat of potential infection is identified.

Peter Townley, managing director at Steritrox said: "The technology behind our hygiene system has proven extremely effective at killing bacteria, moulds and spoilage agents in the food industry. This grant from the DTI will allow us to develop a similar system for the medical sector with the aim of providing appropriate levels of protection for hospitals and medical facilities on a truly global scale."

The technology behind the system is based on the company’s advanced oxidation techniques that uses only naturally occurring elements to deliver a massive biocidal charge over a very short period of time - usually much less than an hour.

After a short exposure time a unique quenching system quickly absorbs any remaining vapours enabling the whole process to be completed in under an hour leaving the room sanitized and completely free of any harmful chemical residuals.

"It is expected that the development project and field trial programme will be complete in 12 months time. We hope we will then have developed an effective weapon to be deployed in the fight against the growing threat of hospital super bugs, as well as providing a credible defence process against similar attacks in the future."

Steritrox(TM) Ltd
Cromwell Road
Bredbury
Stockport
Cheshire, SK6 2RH
UK
Tel: 0161 430 8721
Fax: 0161 612 6229
info@steritrox.co.uk
http://www.steritrox.co.uk