I-Corps: Ferrate Technology in Healthcare Surfaces Disinfection

人们越来越关注与到医院就诊有关的感染，称为医院获得性感染。艾滋病导致了大量的死亡病例。在这些易致人死亡的环境中，大约有50%与没有正确清洁（或消毒）医院病床、病房地板和医疗设备等表面有关。常用的消毒剂有漂白剂（即次氯酸钠）、过氧化氢和含有中心带正电的氮原子的盐，氮原子被四个有机基团包围（或季盐）。这些消毒剂可以有效地清洁表面，但在执行其消毒功能时破坏了医院的设备和材料。此外，这些消毒剂有难闻的气味，也会对最终用户的眼睛和皮肤造成刺激。在本提案中，提出了一种基于铁和氧原子的液体高铁酸盐分子，以解决与当前使用的消毒剂相关的问题。在实验室中，高铁酸盐已显示出灭活多种微生物的巨大潜力。最近获得专利的液体高铁酸盐技术解决了与高铁酸盐溶液稳定性相关的固有问题，将测试其作为表面消毒剂的商业可行性。高铁酸盐技术的成功实施将通过采用更安全的方法减少医院的成本负担。高铁酸盐已被证明是处理水和废水的有效氧化剂、混凝剂和消毒剂。值得注意的是，高铁酸盐是一种有效的消毒剂，因为它能够在低剂量下灭活多种微生物。高铁酸盐作为消毒剂的研究大多是在水环境中进行的。高铁酸盐具有消毒携带几种导致HAIs的有害细菌的表面的潜力。然而，尚无关于高铁酸盐作为潜在表面消毒剂的研究。这个I-Corps团队的主要方法是评估高铁酸盐对环境表面的消毒能力，特别是在医疗保健环境中。在拟议的工作中，将采用两种方法来寻求高铁酸盐作为消毒剂在医疗保健环境中的适用性。首先，将对表面消毒剂进行密集的市场评估，然后采用最佳做法，将高铁酸盐液体产品作为卫生保健设施的表面消毒剂商业化。市场评估将为卫生保健机构客户提供高铁酸盐技术是否与目前市场上可用的消毒剂产品相比较的信息。最后，在高铁酸盐处理后，将检查其物理特性（即表面/衣服/皮肤的染色、气味）以及与医院材料（如玻璃、织物、陶瓷、金属和塑料）的相互作用。评估包括目视检查、照片、丝绸测试、气味和材料变色。对高铁酸盐液体产品用于卫生保健设施表面清洁的技术可行性和市场评价进行了成功的系统调查，将证明高铁酸盐技术用于卫生保健设施的可行性。

There has been increasing concern of infections related to visit to hospitals, called hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). HAIs have resulted in significant cases of mortality. Approximately fifty percent of such susceptible to death circumstances are related to not properly cleaning (or disinfecting) the surfaces such as hospital beds, hospital room floors, and medical devices. The common disinfectants used are bleach (i.e. sodium hypochlorite), hydrogen peroxide, and salt containing central positively charged nitrogen atom surrounded by four organic groups (or quaternary salts). These disinfectants can clean the surfaces effectively, but in performing their disinfection functions destroy hospital equipment and materials. In additions, these disinfectants have off putting odor and also cause irritation to eyes and skin to end users. In this proposal, a liquid ferrate molecule, which is based on iron and oxygen atoms, is proposed to address the problems associated with currently used disinfectants. In the laboratory, ferrate has shown tremendous potential to inactivate a wide range of microorganisms. A recent patented liquid ferrate technology, which solved the inherent issues related to stability of ferrate in solution from, will be tested for its commercial viability as a surface disinfectant. The successful implementation of ferrate technology will decrease the cost burden to hospitals by applying safer approachesFerrate has been shown to be an effective oxidant, coagulant, and disinfectant for treating water and wastewater. Significantly, ferrate is a capable disinfectant due to its ability to inactivate a wide variety of microorganisms at a low dosage. Most of the research on ferrate as a disinfectant has been carried out in an aqueous environment. Ferrate has potential in disinfecting surfaces that carry several harmful bacteria that cause HAIs. However, no study has been performed on ferrate as a potential surface disinfectant. This I-Corps team's main approach is to evaluate disinfection capabilities of ferrate on environmental surfaces, especially in healthcare settings. In the proposed work, two methodologies will be applied to seek the applicability of ferrate as a disinfectant in healthcare settings. Initially, the intensive market evaluation of surface disinfectants will be done, followed by best practice to commercialize the liquid ferrate product as a surface disinfectant for healthcare facilities. The market evaluation will provide information whether the ferrate technology stands in comparison with currently available market disinfectant products to the health care facility customers. Finally, the physical properties (i.e., staining of surfaces/clothes/skin, odor) and interactions with hospital materials (e.g., glass, fabric, ceramic, metal, and plastic) will be examined after the ferrate treatment. Evaluations include visual inspection, photographs, silk tests, smell, and discoloration of material. The proposed successful systematic investigations on technological feasibilities and market evaluation of liquid ferrate product to clean surfaces of health care facilities will demonstrate the feasibility of ferrate technology to the health care facilities.