Robot to reduce risk of hospital germs

STAMFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- When you are admitted to the hospital there is a risk of contracting a deadly bacteria or virus but Stamford Hospital is the only one in the state with the latest high tech tool designed to minimize that risk.

A robot that shoots out high intensity ultra-violet light is the latest arsenal at Stamford Hospital in the war against high risk germs.

"It uses a particular kind of UV called UVC," Dr. Mark Stibich a Xenex Chief Scientific Officer said.

The target? Potentially deadly infections such as MRSA and C-dif that can be acquired in hospitals.

"In the past we looked at sterile procedures and hand hygiene and things like that. Now we're looking at if it's in the environment, if there's a reservoir of these organisms in the environment. We have to get rid of that, it's just creating too much risk," Dr. Stibich said.

Dr. Stibich co-invented it.

"Because organisms, the DNA will absorb this light, this high energy light. It essentially diffuses the DNA together and at that point the organism can't cause an infection," Dr. Stibich said.

The hospital already has a vigorous cleaning program in place. Dr. Michael Parry is the Director of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Stamford Hospital.

"Patients pick up germs from surfaces in what we call high touch surfaces in the patients immediate environment the tray table, the telephone, the call button," Dr. Parry said.

Despite the thorough scrubbing there is still a one to two percent risk of picking something up.

"And that's because people are sick. They get catheters put in them, either bladder catheters or central lines. All of these things make patients susceptible to infection."

In about 15 minutes a patient's room is disinfected by this latest application of UV.

"This ultra-violet technology adds an extra measure of safety and extra level of disinfection," Dr. Parry said.

"We see in studies that whoever is admitted to a room, they are at a higher risk for whatever the patient before them had which makes sense. We want that to go away, we want that higher risk to go away," Dr. Stibich said.

For more information about Xenex, visit: www.xenex.com

For more information on Stamford Hospital, visit: www.stamfordhospital.org