SteriDesign Corporation Introduces New Line of Non-Chemical UV-C Devices

Pathogenic organisms in hotels, healthcare facilities, schools, call centers and all types of public places are the target of SteriDesign Corporation's new line of patent-pending non-chemical UV-C devices. SteriBox is designed to disinfect handheld devices like remote controls, mobile phones, hand held diagnostic devices, stethoscopes, ID badges, while SteriHood disinfects keyboards and mice.

Shared use and multi-user, high-touch electronic devices should be areas of concern in healthcare settings. A University of North Carolina Research Study found that computers tested positive for a variety of microorganisms such as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), which is a major cause of bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients plus an additional 13 other types of bacteria, with the most common, after CoNS, being diphtheroids and MRSA. There are 3,500 computer keyboards in the University of North Carolina System alone. Disinfection of the computer keyboard is a challenge with the current methods available. Therefore, most computer keyboards are never cleaned or disinfected within the healthcare environment.  

SteriBox and SteriHood harness the power of a technology developed in the 1930s to clean air, water and surfaces. Ultraviolet light (UV-C) is an energy saving, low power, short UV-C wavelength of light proven safe, cost efficient, environmental friendly, and easy to use. Ultraviolet rays within the UV-C wavelength destroy pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, mold and mildew. The microorganisms' DNA is damaged causing death of the organism. While UV-C sterilization's effect and capability have been known for over 80 years, it has proven difficult to develop innovative product designs that are easy to use and cost effective.  Most of the current UV systems are large equipment that requires capital investment, training and safety. They take 20 minutes to be effective and no patient or healthcare provider can be in the room being disinfected. They are designed to be an adjunct to routine cleaning and disinfection.

SteriDesign has developed an easy to use, cost-efficient UV system that disinfects for under $100. Independent lab testing completed at one of the largest microbiology labs in the USA, confirms the SteriDesign SteriHood and SteriBox products are effective against those pathogenic organisms found on shared-use multi-touch electronic device surfaces.

In the healthcare environment, SteriBox and SteriHood are used in any place where remote controls and keyboards are used. When installed in a patients' room, SteriBox makes it convenient to routinely disinfect remote control devices, hospital room corded or cordless phones, and any guest personal mobile devices. In the current healthcare system, even though patients, guests, family members, doctors, nurses and others around the patient touch these devices during a patient stay, these devices are only cleaned between patient stays, if at all. The same is true for keyboards in the healthcare setting. Nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are constantly touching these keyboards.

SteriBox's innovative design allows for two high-output UV bulbs to be positioned for complete 360-degree disinfection of remote controls, keyboards and other electronic devices. The testing of SteriBox validates that the SteriDesign product disinfects three-dimensional surfaces -- front, back, sides, top and bottom. The fully vacuum metalized interior surface of the SteriBox ensures that all light rays are propagated around the interior of the box for the greatest leverage of the UV-C technology. SteriBox's design enables easy maintenance through removable and recyclable UV-C light trays, and it features a convenient AC-power outlet, allowing users to recharge mobile phones while they are being cleaned.

At nurse stations and on nurse carts, SteriHood's design enables it to be used with any legacy keyboard. When nurses, doctors and healthcare workers have completed a task at a keyboard, they just pull the SteriHood cover up and out over the keyboard, and the 5-minute disinfection cycle begins; all surfaces of the keyboard will be disinfected. If a keyboard is needed before the 5-minute cycle is complete, lifting the SteriHood cover provides immediate access to it; an auto shut-off switch immediately shuts the system down, which restarts again when the cover is re-engaged over the unit. A clear window in the shape of the SteriDesign logo has been built into SteriHood showing you that the keyboard is being disinfected by emitting a cool blue light.  When the light is off, the keyboard has been disinfected.  If the keyboard has not been disinfected in any one hour time period, the SteriHood’s red visible LED light will blink alerting the user that the keyboard had not been disinfected in the last hour. When a SteriHood bulb has been through its allotted number of life cycles, the LED will be on continuously bright red, advising users that it is time to replace the bulb which lasts for approximately one year.

Source: SteriDesign Corporation