Physical Wellness

UV Robot Kills Ebola in Two Minutes

By Peter R | Update Date: Oct 08, 2014 08:50 AM EDT

A robot that shots pulses of ultraviolet light can rid surfaces of Ebola in two minutes.

The robot called 'Little Moe' uses non-toxic Xenon gas to create ultraviolet rays which can destroy the DNA of germs including viruses.

"Our robot ensures the room is safe for the next patient by destroying germs on high-touch surfaces, and in hard to clean nooks and crannies," Daily Mail quoted a spokesperson of Xenex, the company which makes the robot. Little Moe is currently being used in 250 US hospitals, including the one in Dallas where an Ebola patient who arrived from Liberia is being treated.

Use of UV technology has been around for some time, but earlier devices used mercury and not xenon.

"Many companies produce UV devices with mercury bulbs and none of these mercury companies have achieved peer reviewed patient outcomes from the use of their devices in hospitals. Hospital decision-makers need to understand the significant scientific differences between UV light technologies as they evaluate room disinfection systems. Only Xenex is non-mercury and only Xenex has peer-reviewed studies demonstrating a reduction in actual patient infection rates when Xenex robots are used for surface disinfection," said Morris Miller, CEO of Xenex, in a press release.

Mercury based UV sterilization can take as long as an hour but Little Moe does the job in minutes. Ebola, a weak virus outside the body, is destroyed in two minutes.

"Our customers have proven that they can reduce C.diff and MRSA infection rates by more than 50 percent by using our robots for surface disinfection. We believe in evidence-based medicine and challenge anyone considering UV room disinfection to look at the science behind the competing technologies before making a decision. Not all UV light is the same and our patented pulsed xenon technology has truly set itself apart," said Mark Stibich co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Xenex .

UV light is 25,000 times brighter compared to sunlight and Little Moe throws 1.5 pulses every second up to a distance of 10 feet. It has been available since 2010 and costs $104,000.

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