© wellcome images/FlickrThe “superbug” MRSA up close
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September released a report that paints a grim picture of the on-going war against these so-called "superbugs" - pathogens such as MRSA and C. difficile that are becoming increasingly resistant to traditional medicines and killing tens of thousands of people every year. The report, "Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013" states that more than two million people in the United States get infections that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a result.
The CDC lays the blame squarely on the overuse of antibiotics, and issues what it calls four core actions that must be taken. The first is to prevent the spread of infections, not just react to an outbreak by prescribing antibiotics. As antibiotics and traditional methods such as using harsh disinfectants to temporarily clean rooms and common areas have reached the point of diminishing returns, technology must play a role in a long-term care facility's infection control program to effectively address the three key transmission vectors: person-to-person contact, surface contact and aerial dissemination.
In a note to parents of Northville High School students, Superintendent Mary Kay Gallagher's said, "parents should just read the information and just practicing good hygiene is the best way to deal with it." That reaction is typical of people who are unaware of the true dangers of MRSA, and who are naive about how MRSA is actually spread and contracted. After Tampa Bay Buccaneers team officials discovered the MRSA infection in the team's training facility, it hired a company to thoroughly clean the facility with harsh chemicals while the team was in Miami for a preseason game.
While good hygiene is a necessary preventative measure, it cannot address the airborne vector. Fogging a room with harsh chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide will disinfect surfaces and clear the air, but that area can be contaminated as soon as people enter the room.
There's a misconception that MRSA is not airborne, but the evidence points very strongly to the contrary. There are many peer-reviewed studies on what academics now call 'Cloud Emitters' of MRSA, proving that the disease can be spread in the air by both adult and child carriers. For example, a report by researchers at Wake Forest University, based on research on infection outbreaks at hospitals, finds that outbreaks have been associated with skin colonization or viral upper respiratory tract infection in a phenomenon of airborne dispersal of Staphylococcus aureus called the "Cloud" phenomenon.
According to the research, published in the March-April 2001 issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases:
"Certain of these agents are transmissible by air, which means that transmission from health-care workers can occur in spite of standard infection control measures such as handwashing. Thus, airborne transmission increases the likelihood that an outbreak can occur. While it is well known that health-care workers can transmit infections such as tuberculosis, varicella, and influenza by the airborne route, it is less well appreciated that they can also transmit certain bacterial pathogens through the air."Hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide are turning to the technology sector to help battle airborne pathogens. There are a number of new technologies on the market that leverage plasma or hydrogen peroxide mists to prevent the transmission of infections across person-to-person contact, surface contact and airborne transmission; and both have been proven effective. The primary difference between the two technologies is that one provides a constant ongoing level of protection, while hydrogen peroxide misters are point-in-time, deep cleaning devices. Both have been proven to be highly effective.
But these superbugs do not only lurk in hospitals, so even as we focus on protecting patients with weakened immune systems, we need to develop these technologies to protect people in their homes, offices, schools, shopping centers and even on the buses and subway cars they use for their daily commutes.
Technology cannot replace proven best practices, such as frequent hand washing, not sharing towels, and regularly disinfecting surfaces. Technology is designed to complement these measures, which while effective in preventing the spread of infections via direct contact, cannot address the airborne vector of transmission. Only by addressing all three transmission vectors can hospitals, schools and professional sports teams follow the CDC's recommendation to be more proactive in preventing outbreaks instead of an over-reliance on antibiotics; a cure that has grown increasingly ineffective and can only be administered after the fact.
As Benjamin Franklin so wisely wrote many years ago, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Kevin Maughan is the Managing Director of Tampa-based Novaerus.
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