The Enemy
The most numerous, diverse and adaptable organisms on Earth are Microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites). Microbes have thrived on this planet for over three billion years, Infectious diseases from bacteria and viruses are the second greatest cause of death in the world. They are the number one increasing threat to the survival of the human race, and a dangerous enemy.
As these "New invisible Armies” called infectious diseases gathers momentum, the incidence of antibiotic and viral resistant infections will explode.
Vaccines and antibiotics are losing the war against these “New Invisible Armies" and the proliferating infection rates caused by:
Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Viruses:
The "Invisible Armies" that cause these rapidly increasing infection rates compels the use of preventative air and surface decontamination/sterilization technologies which must be developed and enhanced as an indispensable addition to vaccines and antibiotics to allow the human race to defend itself from the array of ever-present threats that are posed by pathogenic infection.
TOMI's SteraMist technology will serve as a vital proactive Air and Surface Decontamination and infection control /biohazard remediation weapon to prevent the spread of deadly infectious pathogens and pandemic outbreaks worldwide, this technology is to be used for routine daily clean-up, all types of remediation including major disaster relief efforts: to help protect the local population, global aid workers, medical professionals, and first responders.
Infectious microbes are by nature highly toxic, and eliminating them has proven to be profoundly difficult. Many varieties thrive within our indoor living and working spaces. Adults and children with weak immune systems, respiratory problems, and even the healthiest athletes and military personnel can suffer serious and even fatal illnesses from exposure to these infectious diseases.
Infectious microbes from these "New Invisible Armies are mutating into more lethal pathogens due to a variety of contributing factors such as older antibiotic overuse and abuse, the lack of new antibiotic development, increasing population around the world, coupled with unsanitary conditions and inadequate infection control practices in the public sectors. As deadly bacteria, viruses, and fungi continue to find new ways to mutate and evolve, so, too, must the technology progress to combat the threat that these pathogens cause to the worlds health and safety, and TOMI's SteraMist is just that answer.
Below are a few examples of the“New Invisible Armies” and pandemic threats that TOMI's SteraMist can eliminate.
ACINETOBACTER
Acinetobacter is a very opportunistic pathogen of high concern for many healthcare facilities and institutions globally. Acinetobacter are a key source of infection in debilitated patients in the hospital, particularly the species Acinetobacter baumannii. Occasional strains are isolated from foodstuffs and some are able to survive on various medical equipment and even on healthy human skin. As a result of the organism’s ability to rapidly evolve, acquire, and upregulate antibiotic resistance, it has been propelled to the forefront of scientific attention (Peleg AY, Seifert H, Paterson DL., 2008).
Acinetobacter can be spread to susceptible patients by direct contact from person to person, contact with contaminated surfaces and exposure with a contaminated environment. Infections are difficult to prevent because the organism is ubiquitous and found everywhere, even colonizing the skin of healthy people.
Acinetobacter infections rarely occur outside of healthcare settings and outbreaks are common in intensive care units with a high frequency of nosocomial infections. Of all the species of Acinetobacter, Acinetobacter baumannii is responsible for 80% of the reported infections. Infections are commonly treated with antibiotics but due to their broad antibiotic resistance, treatments can often be troublesome (Acinetobacter, 2004).
ASPERGILLUS
Opportunistic fungi attack people with severely compromised immune systems either resulting from medical treatment or disease. Infections with these pathogens are increasing due to the increased use of immunosuppressive medications and diseases such as AIDS that reduce immune competence.
The most common opportunist that is also the most frequent cause of disease is Aspergillus fumigatus, a thermotolerant fungus that not only causes infections, but also colonizes the lungs of asthmatics and people with cystic fibrosis. Other species of Aspergillus that are frequently reported as pathogens are A. terreus, A. niger, and A. flavus. Aspergillus ustus less frequently causes infection.
Fungal infections comprise approximately 10% of all healthcare-associated infections. Researchers have reviewed outbreaks of infection caused by Aspergillus and found that almost half were associated with construction or renovation in hospitals. In addition, a dose of only one (1) colony forming unit was needed to cause infection in immunocompromised patients and highlights the critical need for isolation and containment of construction activities from other occupied spaces (Alvarez et al., 1995).
With the risk of airborne Aspergillus spores, it is important that patients are placed in hospital rooms and operating rooms that are free of fungal contamination.
Aspergillus species are ubiquitous organisms that can be found in every region of the world. Among about 185 Aspergillus species identified, approximately 20 are involved in human diseases. Aspergillus fumigatus is the most common species that causes invasive infections (about 80%). Aspegillus flavus (15%-20%) is a common isolate in sinusitis. The emergence of Aspergillus terreus and Aspergillus niger has recently been reported, and other Aspergillus species have been implicated anecdotally.
Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus are the leading species of the genus causing invasive Aspergillosis fungal infection. Due to their small size, about 70% of Aspergillus fumigatus spores are able to penetrate into the trachea and primary bronchi. Outbreaks of nosocomial Aspergillosis are attributed to airborne sources and even smaller concentrations of spores (Alberti et al., 2001. Journal of Hospital Infection 48(3): 198-206).
CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE (C-DIFF)
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that is related to the bacterium that causes tetanus and botulism. C-difficile spores are found frequently in: hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, and nurseries for newborn infants. They can be found on: bedpans, furniture, toilet seats, linens, telephones, stethoscopes, fingernails, jewelry, floors, infants’ rooms, and diaper pails. They can even be carried by pets. Antibiotic-associated (C. difficile) colitis is an infection of the colon caused by C. difficile that occurs primarily among individuals who have been using antibiotics. It is the most common infection acquired by patients while they are in the hospital.
Those with a severe case of C. difficile colitis, may experience a high fever, severe diarrhea and dehydration associated with severe abdominal pain and tenderness. More than three million C. difficile infections occur in hospitals in the US each year. After a stay of only two days in a hospital, 10% of patients will develop infection with C. difficile. C. difficile also may be acquired outside of hospitals in the community. It is estimated that 20,000 infections with C. difficile occur in the community each year in the U.S. (Dennis Lee, M.D., 2011).
ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
Escherichia coli is an organism commonly found in the lower intestine of humans. There are many strains of E. coli, some of which contain virulence factors capable of causing disease in humans. Because of these virulence factors, E. coli is capable of causing some of the most common bacterial infections including cholecytitis, bacterimia, cholangitis, urinary tract infections (UTI), traveler's diarrhea, neonatal meningitis, pneumonia and other clinical infections. Pregnant women are at a higher risk of E. coli.
E. coli is one of the major causes of neonatal meningitis and can also cause neonatal sepsis. These infections carry an 8% mortality rate and most survivors develop neurologic or developmental abnormalities. E. coli can also cause meningitis in adults following neurosurgical trauma or procedures. E. coli accounts for 80% of all urinary tract infections, and over 90% of all uncomplicated UTIs, including urethritis/cystitis, symptomatic cystitis, pyelonephritis, acute prostatis, prostatic abcess, and urosepsis (Medical Dictionary, 2010).
E. Coli infections can cause vomiting, abdominal pain and distress including loss bowls. The reason they have become more dangerous over time is due to their resistance to antibiotics.
Over 50% of community strains of E. coli are now resistant to many antibiotics including the best oral flouro-quinolone antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and Norfloxacin).
NOROVIRUS
Norovirus causes gastrointestinal illness and is highly contagious in Health-care institutions, convalescent homes and passenger cruise ships. Persons working in day-care centers or nursing homes should pay special attention to children of residents who have the norovirus. Norovirus is spread through water or food contaminated with fecal matter and can also be transmitted with an infected person or surface.
Norovirus infection symptoms are noticeable 1 to 2 days after exposure. Abdominal distress, nausea, cramps, diarrhea, low-grade fever and weigh loss may occur and may cause severe dehydration in elderly, children and immune-challenged adults in convalescent homes and hospitals.
Recovering from a norovirus infection is dependent on the infected individual's general health, immune system and if the patient has replaced most of their lost fluids. There is no specific anecdote. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009).
NOVEL SWINE INFLUENZA A (H1N1)
Novel swine Influenza A (swine flu) infects the lining of the nose, throat and lungs by inhalation of infected droplets causing respiratory infections. Influenza spreads between humans when infected people cough or sneeze, then other people breathe in the virus or touch something with the virus on it and then touch their own face.
The novel swine flu virus spreads quickly, partly because it is new and everyone is at risk. Institutional and healthcare workers are especially at risk due to the exposure time and proximity to those infected with the virus.
Symptoms include fever, chills, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, fatigue, diarrhea, coughing and vomiting. More severe complications can also occur, including the worsening of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, pneumonia, and even respiratory failure. Antiviral drugs can be administered to patients for symptomatic relief, but due to the development of resistance to these antiviral drugs, they should only be administered to high-risk patients (World Health Organization).
STAPHYLO-COCCUS AUREUS:
METHICILLIN-RESISTANT (MRSA) VANCOMYCIN-RESISTANT (VRSA)
S. Aureus is a cause of nosocomial infections associated with implanted medical devices and infections of surgical wounds. Treatment of S. Aureus is getting more complicated due to increased antibiotic resistance by organisms. Even the most effective antibiotics available appear to be losing some ground. Today there are very few effective antibiotics left that are sensitive to this pathogen, Vancomycin one of our last to be left in our bag to treat antibiotic resistant Staph Aureus infections has now been compromised.
In 2002– VRSA, true vancomycin resistant S. aureus appeared in the mid-west of the United States. VRSA are MRSA strains that are entirely insensitive to treatment with Vancomycin, something that occurs after the exchange of specific resistance genes, most likely with the Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus. Unfortunately today we are beginning to see MRSA cases which are community-acquired (CA)-MRSA – this is particularly troubling because CA-MRSA tends to be more aggressive pathologically. If the hospital acquired (HA)-MRSA trend is seen in CA-MRSA then we are potentially faced with strains of S.Aureus that have elevated and aggressive virulence and no real drugs to treat them. CA-MRSA is the most common cause of infections in athletes, and contaminated knee braces are the most common method to carry the organism that is introduced thru contact sports. (Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD).
TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death in the world from a bacterial infectious disease outside the United States and still kills 2 million a year. TB affects a little less than 2 billion people worldwide each year which is equivalent to a third of the world’s population. The latest figures show an average of only about 14,000 cases a year in the U.S. TB has become very difficult to treat, particularly due to the so-called "extreme drug resistant "TB, or XDR-TB.XDR-TB strains are resistant to most or all known anti-TB drugs (most XDR-TB strains are in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America, but cases are now much more prevalent in the U.S).
If left untreated, each person with active TB disease will infect on a average between 10-15 people every year. When infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB germs, known as bacilli, into the air. A person needs only to inhale a small number of these to be infected. If a case in a hospital goes untreated or the patient’s room does not get disinfected or sterilized, the risk of others being contaminated increases significantly.
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