Hospital Management

ActivePure study finds decontamination device cuts rates of MRSA by 99%

The pilot study conducted across two US hospitals for nearly two years saw the rates of healthcare derived infections drop significantly within intensive care units.

Texas-based air and surface decontamination company, ActivePure Medical, has announced the results of a study showing its purifying devices saw a 99% reduction in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and a 70% drop in healthcare-associated infections (HAI) across two facilities.

The study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, found that the company’s ActivePure decontamination device was able to drastically cut the instances of HAI within the intensive care units of two major US hospitals including organisms such as MRSA and fungi.

One of the hospitals in the study that used the company’s Induct Guardian Series air decontamination system, the Ochsner Health Center-West Bank in Louisiana, saw total aggregate HAIs decline by 71% over a 21-month period, whilst the second hospital involved in the study, the Lexington Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System, saw HAIs fall by 70% over 12 months.

Hospital-associated infections, most notably those that have the potential to be anti-microbial resistant infections, are one of the most pertinent threats facing healthcare facilities with the issue taking centre stage across the industry. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are approximately 722,000 HAIs and 75,000 HAI-related deaths per year in the country with direct medical costs of $28.4bn annually, with additional societal costs amounting to another $12.4bn.

Deborah Birx, chief medical & science advisor at parent company AP Sciences Group, said: “As someone who has dedicated my career to safeguarding public health, I cannot overstate the profound impact ActivePure Medical's simultaneous air and surface decontamination technology could have in our relentless battle against healthcare-associated infections.

“I have witnessed firsthand the devastating toll HAIs exact on patients, their families, the healthcare system, and society. By providing continuous, proactive decontamination of surfaces and air, the Induct Guardian Series air decontamination system targets the very environmental reservoirs that sustain preventable infections, offering a new, much-needed defence to systematically suppress their propagation.”

Elsewhere in the field of anti-microbial resistance US-based nanoscience company EVŌQ Nano’s antimicrobial medical device platform has demonstrated effectiveness against a number of resistant strains, cutting the rates of infections in patients using catheters.