空气电离子器可彻底消灭医院传染病

作者：Natasha McDowell (娜塔莎 麦克道尔)

在重症监护病房中，通过空气重复传染的不动杆菌病毒可通过安装负空气电离子器清除掉。

在第一次流行病学的研究中，研究人员在长达一年的测试中发现感染率可降低为零。“可以得到这样清晰的答案我们也是非常惊讶的。” 英国利兹大学工程师克莱夫·贝格（Clive Begg）告诉新科学家。

斯蒂芬·迪恩（Stephen Dean）是一名利兹圣詹姆斯医院的会诊医生，这个医院也是做测试的地方。他说：“测试的结果实在太棒了——以至于我们请求利兹大学将电离子器留给我们。”

电离子器可以产生负空气离子，通过与周围的粒子碰撞使它们带电。科学家相信带电的粒子聚集在一起后会从空气中掉落，从而给大气消毒并阻止传染的传播。

“我们还不完全明白它是如何工作的，但我们怀疑它可以损坏或杀死病毒。”贝格说道。“但如果电离子器可以以这样的方式清洁空气，我们预期在表面可以找到更多的不动杆菌的沉淀物，然而我们确实找到了”

细菌的抗药性

由于细菌对多种抗生素有抗药性，不动杆菌的传播非常难以治疗。它对健康的人们没有威胁，但却可以对低免疫力人群造成严重的感染。

“电离子器也许会成为对抗医院中传染病有力的武器”另一名临床学家凯文·凯尔 （Kevin Kerr）说。“人们只关注让医生和护士洗手，却不注意其他地方。”

在英国公立医院中大约已经有10%的传染病被认为是通过空气传播的，但凯尔说可能更高，因为用常规取样的办法去衡量细菌传播的方法是低效的。

尽管测试结果非常可观，凯尔说还需要做更多的研究，因为不动杆菌的传播是有周期性的：“它们也许不会在几个礼拜或者几个月中出现，然后会突然的大量传播。”

TB 目标

研究团队目前在做更多的实验以确认是否可以找到其他生物体。肺结核病是一个可观的目标。

英国公共健康实验研究院主任布莱恩·杜尔登（Brian Duerden）对实验结果感到鼓舞人心，他告诉新科学家：“尽管这不是所有传染病传播的答案，有些传染病的传播是通过接触，但这确实是一个可以除掉医院传染病的潜在有效武器。”

电子公司夏普（Sharp）的研究表明，空调系统产生的正电子和负电子可以阻止包括流感在内的病毒传播，但这个新研究是减少医院感染传播有效的第一步。

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3228-air-ionisers-wipe-out-hospital-infections/

Air ionisers wipe out hospital infections

By Natasha McDowell

Repeated airborne infections of the bacteria acinetobacter in an intensive care ward have been eliminated by the installation of a negative air ioniser.

In the first such epidemiological study, researchers found that the infection rate fell to zero during the year long trial. “We were absolutely astounded to find such clear cut results,” engineer Clive Begg at the University of Leeds, UK, told New Scientist.

Stephen Dean, a consultant at the St James’s Hospital in Leeds where the trial took place says: “The results have been fantastic – so much so that we have asked the university to leave the ionisers with us.”

The ionisers produce negative air ions that collide with suspended particles and give them a charge. The scientists believe charged particles aggregate together and fall out of the air, thereby disinfecting the atmosphere and stopping the transmission of infection.

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“We don’t fully understand how it is working, but we suspect it is damaging or killing the bacteria,” says Beggs. “But if the ionisers are cleaning the air in this way, we would expect to find more precipitation of acinetobacter on surfaces and this is exactly what we found.”

Antibiotic resistant

Acinetobacter infections are often very difficult to treat as the bacterium is resistant to many antibiotics. It poses no real threat to healthy humans but can cause serious infections in people with weakened immune systems.

“Ionisers may become a powerful weapon in the fight against hospital acquired infection,” says clinical microbiologist Kevin Kerr, another team member. “People had focused on getting doctors and nurses to wash their hands and had not looked at anything else.”

About 10 per cent of infections in the UK’s public hospitals have been estimated to be airborne, but Kerr says it may be even higher, as conventional methods to sample airborne bacteria are inefficient.

But although the results are very promising, he adds that further research is needed because acinetobacter infections tend to be cyclical. “They may not be seen for weeks or months and then you see a cluster of infections,” he says.

TB target

The team is currently doing more lab studies to see if other organisms may be targeted. Tuberculosis is one promising target.

Brian Duerden, director of the UK’s Public Health Laboratory Service, is encouraged by the results. “It is not the whole answer as many infections are spread by touch, but it is a potential addition to the weaponry against hospital infections,” he told New Scientist.

Research by electronics company Sharp has shown that positive and negative ions produced by their air conditioning systems can inactivate viruses including influenza. But the new study is the first to link such an effect to reduced infections in hospitals.