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2014
Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

St. Cloud Surgical Center is First ASC in U.S. to Utilize Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot to Disinfect Operating Rooms & Enhance Patient Safety more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

4 cheap small cap stocks I’ve got my eye for Christmas more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

Southern Biologics Network Established to Create Biologics Faster and Less Expensively more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

Morningside Ministries at the Manor is the First Skilled Nursing Facility in Texas to Protect Residents with Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot more

Dec 2014 | Download as pdf

RBA to cut rates in 2015: Still want to invest in term deposits? more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Can robots help stop the Ebola outbreak? more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Robots Help Fight Ebola more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

South Florida Hospital Unveils Ebola-Zapping Robot more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Sonoma Valley Hospital uses robot to kill germs more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Robots go to war against Ebola more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

New iTraumaCare CEO to pursue big growth more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

UAB and SRI have plans to spinoff more success more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

Launch of Galderma's new acne products more

Nov 2014 | Download as pdf

iTraumaCare’s new CEO to help company secure new funding more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

U.S. Air Force Hospital Langley Adds Xenex Ebola-Zapping Robot to Inventory more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Forthcoming Acne Treatment Made With Exclusive (And Sustainable) East Indian Sandalwood Oil more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Sonoma Valley Hospital Acquires Xenex Germ-Killing Robot to Enhance Patient Safety more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Robot fights germs at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex updates protocols for germ-zapping robots in response to Ebola threat more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

How do we get rid of the endotoxins? Birmingham's  has the solution more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Medical Device ® Positions New Leader for Next-Level Growth more

Oct 2014 |

The Xenex robot at South Shore Hospital featured on an Xploration Earth more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Germ-zapping robot Gigi sets its sights on Ebola more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Morningside Ventures leads a Series B round for DNAtrix more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

StemBioSys secures new research space at BioBridge Global more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Birmingham's Soluble Therapeutics acquires Seattle company Dilyx Biotechnology more

Oct 2014 | Download as pdf

Company invents germ-zapping robot more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Congratulates Houston Cancer Hospital more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Australian grown Indian Sandalwood timber attracts lucrative Asian markets more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

DNATRIX ANNOUNCES TREATMENT OF FIRST PATIENT WITH DNX-2401 more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Targeted Technology raises more than $40 million more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs): Not All UV Light is the Same more

Sept 2014 | Download as pdf

Bluegrass Vascular Technologies Names Dr. Gabriele Niederauer President And CEO more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

Three Birmingham companies recognized in PwC report more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

Former Kinetic Concepts Inc. CEO to lead StemBioSys more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

International dermatology company Galderma confirmed more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

AUSTRALIAN Sandalwood producer TFS Corporation will supply oil more

Aug 2014 | Download as pdf

San Antonio luring biotech firms with venture capital more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Biotech firm secures nearly $5 million in funding, is relocating to San Antonio more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Birmingham is on the front lines of medical research: take a look at this incredible biotech startup more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Germ-Zapping Robots Fight C. diff and MRSA at Mercy Health Saint Mary's more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Milford hospital enlists robots in war against infections

After employees at Milford Regional Medical Center have stripped the beds and wiped down or disinfected all of the surfaces they can reach, Rosie and WALL-E have a turn with the germs left behind.

The robots, made by Xenex Disinfection Services, use an intense flash of ultraviolet light to fight the bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other micro-organisms that traditional cleaning methods can miss, according to the hospital’s infection control staff.

The 4-foot-tall devices started making the rounds in May at the Milford hospital. Xenex machines are in place in about 250 hospitals across the United States. In Massachusetts, clients include Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, South Shore Hospital and Cambridge Hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the San Antonio-based company.

The robots are among the latest efforts to reduce hospital infections, which afflict about 1 in 25 patients on any given day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 75,000 patients with hospital-related infections died in 2011, the CDC reported. Its study of acute-care hospitals found that more than half of the infections took place outside of intensive care units.

Rosie the robot is sent into an empty room to kill germs that regular cleaning has missed.
In Milford, the robots are described by hospital staff as one more tool in the effort to reduce the spread of infection. The nonprofit institution purchased the pair for slightly more than $150,000 after studying the experience of other hospitals, according to a spokeswoman.

The two robots, which received their nicknames from Milford Regional staff, are deployed throughout the facility, including patient rooms, operating rooms, waiting areas, and public bathrooms.

They work individually, wheeled by staff into spaces that have been vacated. Given 10 minutes in a cleared room, the electric-powered robots generate UV-C rays that target micro-organisms that can linger for days, said Kimberly Knox, the hospital’s infection prevention and control coordinator.

In a recent demonstration for news media, Rosie was placed in a vacant patient room, and Hugo Castaneda, an environmental services supervisor, prepared it for action. Once the room was cleared and the door shut, the device’s circular “head” rose and began to flash an intense purple light. Meanwhile, hospital staff down the hall went about their work.

The robots do not replace but rather complement the work done by people. The technology targets the toughest germs that hospitals are most concerned about, Knox said, including Clostridium difficile (or C. diff), norovirus, influenza viruses, and staph bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

How effective are the machines? The company cites findings in the American Journal of Infection Control, which recently published a 52-month study. The report found patient infections, including those involving C. diff, significantly decreased in a New York hospital that supplemented its cleaning regimen with the UV disinfection, according to a summary.

Mark Stibich, cofounder of Xenex, said hospitals are looking for new methods to combat infection, in part, because health care reform has affected reimbursement of infection-related hospital costs, and also because of concern about patients.

“These infections are much more serious than they’ve ever been because of antimicrobial resistance. It’s resistant to the medications being used,” he said. “Now we have ‘super bugs.’ They’re emerging all the time.”

The robots started working at Milford Regional on May 12. They haven’t been used long enough for the medical center to gauge the result, according to Michael Newstein, an infectious diseases consultant and the chairman of its department of medicine. But the findings elsewhere have been encouraging, he said.

“It kills the spores,” he said, describing Clostridium difficile, “which are the hardest things to kill.” back

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Testifies About UV Room Disinfection Technology Effectiveness to U.S. House of Representatives more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Western Pa. hospitals test robot using ultraviolet rays to kill bacteria more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

Xenex Demonstrates UV Room Cleaning System’s Effectiveness in Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections more

July 2014 | Download as pdf

TFS flags record full-year profit more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

Sweet scented sandalwood flavour of month more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

House committee looks for new technology in Veterans Affairs hospitals more

June 2014 | Download as pdf

FDA grants fast track status to drug DNX-2401 for recurrent Glioblastoma more

May 2014 | Download as pdf

CEO shakeup at San Antonio biotech company StemBioSys more

May 2014 | Download as pdf

First harvest to be completed in June more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

BiO2 Medical Enrolls Subjects in the New U.S. FDA Early Feasibility Pilot Study for the Angel® Catheter more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

San Antonio biotech firm readies skin treatment for distribution more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

ViroXis Gets Approval To Initiate FDA Phase 2 Study For Molluscum Contagiosum more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

Medical technologies conference announces speaker lineup more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

Australian sandalwood sells for millions more

Mar 2014 | Download as pdf

Sandalwood exports as good as gold more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

Santalis Pharmaceuticals Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Global Pharmaceutical Company to Commercialize OTC Dermatology Products more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

ViroXis Corporation Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Global Pharmaceutical Company to Commercialize an OTC Dermatology Product more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

DNAtrix Awarded $10.8 Million Grant by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas more

Feb 2014 | Download as pdf

ViroXis Corporation Achieves Key Clinical Milestones more

Jan 2014 | Download as pdf

There are growing concerns about the threat of an antibiotic crisis caused by the spread of drug-resistant superbugs. Those concerns could result in more