<p>A Star Wars-style robot that uses ultraviolet light can kill up to 70 per cent of bacteria in hospital rooms in just 12 minutes, according to a new study by an Indian-origin scientist.<br /><br />The study looks at the effectiveness of a germ-zapping robot to help clean hospital rooms which could hold the key to preventing the spread of "superbugs" - in turn, saving countless dollars and lives, researchers said.<br /><br />Keeping hospital rooms clean is important to prevent the spread of infections from one patient to another.<br /><br />Surfaces in hospital rooms such as tray tables, bedrails, call buttons and grab bars can be reservoirs for bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can be difficult to treat, and in some cases, fatal.<br /><br />"A typical 100-bed hospital sees about 10-20 hospital-acquired infections a year," said Chetan Jinadatha, assistant professor at the Health Science Center College of Medicine at Texas A&M University.<br /><br />"Our goal is to get to zero infections," said Jinadatha.<br /><br />Since the current method of cleaning hospital rooms relies heavily on housekeeping staff, who often have a high turnover rate, Jinadatha has focused his research on using technology to prevent hospital-acquired infections.<br /><br />In particular, he is studying the effectiveness of a pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light system that was developed in Texas.<br /><br />Jinadatha has been among the first to study the system since it was introduced in 2011.<br />The device – which Jinadatha admits bears a striking resemblance to the fictional robot in Star Wars known as R2-D2 – has a large saucer-shaped head on top of a column that rises up to reveal a bulb filled with xenon gas.<br /><br />When the system is switched on, high-voltage electricity passes through the bulb and releases a spectrum of UV light that binds to the DNA of organisms and kills them.<br />Jinadatha's latest study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, looked at the effectiveness of UV light disinfection by itself.<br /><br />The study found that in just 12 minutes, the xenon UV light system cut the amount bacteria in the room by about 70 per cent – roughly the same level of effectiveness as manual disinfection.</p>.<p>Jinadatha stresses that he would never recommend that a hospital use the UV light system by itself, but he believes it does have value as a "safety net" to kill bacteria that traditional cleaning may miss. </p>
<p>A Star Wars-style robot that uses ultraviolet light can kill up to 70 per cent of bacteria in hospital rooms in just 12 minutes, according to a new study by an Indian-origin scientist.<br /><br />The study looks at the effectiveness of a germ-zapping robot to help clean hospital rooms which could hold the key to preventing the spread of "superbugs" - in turn, saving countless dollars and lives, researchers said.<br /><br />Keeping hospital rooms clean is important to prevent the spread of infections from one patient to another.<br /><br />Surfaces in hospital rooms such as tray tables, bedrails, call buttons and grab bars can be reservoirs for bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can be difficult to treat, and in some cases, fatal.<br /><br />"A typical 100-bed hospital sees about 10-20 hospital-acquired infections a year," said Chetan Jinadatha, assistant professor at the Health Science Center College of Medicine at Texas A&M University.<br /><br />"Our goal is to get to zero infections," said Jinadatha.<br /><br />Since the current method of cleaning hospital rooms relies heavily on housekeeping staff, who often have a high turnover rate, Jinadatha has focused his research on using technology to prevent hospital-acquired infections.<br /><br />In particular, he is studying the effectiveness of a pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light system that was developed in Texas.<br /><br />Jinadatha has been among the first to study the system since it was introduced in 2011.<br />The device – which Jinadatha admits bears a striking resemblance to the fictional robot in Star Wars known as R2-D2 – has a large saucer-shaped head on top of a column that rises up to reveal a bulb filled with xenon gas.<br /><br />When the system is switched on, high-voltage electricity passes through the bulb and releases a spectrum of UV light that binds to the DNA of organisms and kills them.<br />Jinadatha's latest study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, looked at the effectiveness of UV light disinfection by itself.<br /><br />The study found that in just 12 minutes, the xenon UV light system cut the amount bacteria in the room by about 70 per cent – roughly the same level of effectiveness as manual disinfection.</p>.<p>Jinadatha stresses that he would never recommend that a hospital use the UV light system by itself, but he believes it does have value as a "safety net" to kill bacteria that traditional cleaning may miss. </p>