Hospitals turn to robots to help kill nightmare bacteria

It is now estimated that 1 out of every 20 patients admitted to hospitals throughout the us will end up with infections they didn't have when they arrived, due to a rise in a new generation of superbugs. In fact, the CDC now reports that those hospital infections are linked to an estimated 100,000 deaths each year and add as much as $30 billion a year in medical costs, and has sounded an alarm about a "nightmare bacteria" resistant to one class of antibiotics.Among them is a particularly nasty strain of intestinal bug called Clostridium difficile, or C-diff. The diarrhea-causing C-diff is now linked to 14,000 U.S. deaths annually. That's been the catalyst for the growing focus on infection control, said Mayfield, who is also president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.In fact, the CDC now reports that those hospital infections are tied to an estimated 100,000 deaths each year and add as much as $30 billion a year in medical costs, and has sounded an alarm about a "nightmare bacteria" resistant to one class of antibiotics. That kind is still rare but it showed up last year in at least 200 hospitals.The diarrhea-causing C-diff is now linked to 14,000 U.S. deaths annually. That's been the catalyst for the growing focus on infection control, said caught in the hospital."We're seeing a culture change" in hospitals, said Jennie Mayfield, president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and the person in charge of tracking infections at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.While. The CDC states that C-diff is easier to treat than some other hospital superbugs, like methicillin-resistant staph, or MRSA, it is particularly difficult to clean away, and can persist on hospital room surfaces for days. As a result, the agency recommends hospital staff clean their hands rigorously with soap and water, or, better yet, wear gloves. They also recommend all rooms should be cleansed vigorously with bleach.Theirs is also a growing recognition among health officials that it is not enough to sterilize surgical equipment and operating rooms, but such mundane items including phones, TV remotes and bed rails, themselves, and are now calling for hospitals to make certain that all the nooks and crannies are clean.To help with the clean-ups, companies like Xenex Healthcare Services, a Texas company have developed a portable, $125,000 machine that's rolled into rooms to zap C-diff and other bacteria and viruses dead with ultraviolet light. or hydrogen peroxide vapors. Xenex has sold or leased devices to more than 100 U.S. hospitals, including Westchester Medical Center in NY and Cooley Dickinson Hospital, a 140-bed facility in Northampton, MA, which noted that C-diff infection rates fell by half and C-diff deaths fell from 14 to 2 during the last two years, compared to the two years before the machines. href='http://www.examiner.com/article/hospitals-turn-to-robots-to-help-kill-nightmare-bacteria' - http://www.examiner.com/article/hospitals-turn-to-robots-to-help-kill-nightmare-bacteria -