What defense do we have against Ebola , one of the world ’ s deadliest disease?
Light- zapping robots, that’s what .
An autonomous machine from San Antonio-based Xenex Disinfection is currently
doing battle against viruses and bacteria in 250
hospitals across the country , including the hospital in Dallas where Thomas Eric
Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the
U. S. , was treated and eventually died .
Why Is Ebola So Terrifying?
The robot kills viruses and bacteria uses ultraviolet light to destroying a virus ’s or
bacteria’s DNA.
I know what you ’ re thinking — UV light is all around us. And you ’d be right. The
sun ’s rays are made up of three different kind of
ultraviolet light . The first two, UV- A and UV- B, shine onto the planet and are
responsible for making people tan as well as giving
other sunburns and even skin cancers .
But the ozone layer surrounding Earth blocks UV- C. Because this light doesn ’t exist
in the natural world below the ozone layer,
organisms have not evolved genetic mechanisms to deal with it . That ’s where Xenex
comes in. The robot pulses UV- C light for five
minutes in a given location, such as a patient’s hospital room. When the light
encounters bacteria or viruses, it damages their DNA,
essentially disabling the pathogen and killing it .
How Can Ebola Be Stopped?
Actually, UV light has been used for decades to disinfect air and water . But older
versions of this technology relied on mercury-based
light bulbs , which are toxic. Xenex uses xenon gas to create the light , which is turns
out is 25,000 times more intense than the UV
light that the sun produces and also kills a wider range of germs .
I spoke with a rep from the company and she was adamant that the light reaches
into all of the nooks and crannies.
Xenex is currently in discussions with the US Department of Defense and several relief
organizations about deploying the robots to
Africa. The company is also talking with several major airlines about disinfecting
cabins.
Source: http://..com.es/2014/10/robots-that-are-capable-of-zapping.html?m=0