Healthcare-related infections in patients who are hospitalized or outpatients constitute a major global public health problem. According to some studies, they affect 5% of patients and entail high morbidity and mortality and a higher economic cost, so their incidence is an indicator of the quality of care provided.

This situation has been aggravated by the pandemic, during which it has been necessary to reinforce measures to prevent the transmission of hospital microorganisms.

In general, these prevention protocols can be grouped into 4 large areas: standard precautions, specific precautions, environmental cleaning and disinfection measures, and surveillance activities. However, it has been shown that, sometimes, manual cleaning and disinfection may not be sufficient to eliminate all the pathogens that may exist in hospital environments, taking into account, in addition, that the persistence of a microorganism on a surface can last for days and days. even months.

Given the need to include new disinfection strategies, different methods of contactless technologies have been developed such as Xenex, a system that offers a type of disinfection by ultraviolet (UV) light generated from Xenon gas and which social health centers have. managed by Clece, four of them on the Costa del Sol.

This LightStrike™ Xenex pulsed xenon disinfection robot is the first and only ultraviolet light disinfection technology capable of destroying SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19, by up to 99.99%. This has been certified by the study carried out by the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, one of the leading independent research institutes, specialized in infectious diseases.

However, its use is not limited to Covid. As Carlos Mata, biologist responsible for Quality and R&D integration at Clece, explains: «Xenex is a great weapon in the fight against Covid-19 but its origin dates back to the Ebola crisis. Clece implemented it in 2015 since the objective of this robot is to inactivate all the organisms that we find in hospitals and social health centers, which are the ones that cause nosocomial diseases, not just SARS-CoV-2.

According to the person in charge, the system is very effective because it inactivates the microorganisms in two minutes at a distance of two meters. This time and distance is for SARS-CoV-2 (according to a study by the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB) of the CSIC, for the rest of the microorganisms they are usually protocols of 5 minutes, generally. It also has certification from a public body such as It is the National Center for Biotechnology, which offers maximum security.

This professional, who belongs to the team that acts as a link between those responsible for cleaning and those responsible for preventive medicine at the Puerto Real University Hospital (Cádiz) managed by Clece, ensures that the use of Xenex is not limited to the operating room, but which includes other key areas. «In our case it is used both in operating rooms, as well as in day hospitals, the ICU and even in radiodiagnosis or some Emergency areas. Ultimately in high-risk spaces and in hospitalization where there is isolation,” explains Mata.

Regarding its operation, Mata simplifies: «The device incorporates a Xenon gas lamp and emits type C ultraviolet light. This damages the genetic material of microorganisms, preventing them from developing and reproducing. Furthermore, compared to other mercury-based disinfection devices, which are more polluting and less intense, Xenex is 100% sustainable, with its waste being inert and harmless to people and the environment.”

Along these lines, Celia Sánchez, scientific biologist in charge of Xenex, highlights the good results obtained by the robot at the San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital – where it was implemented in 2017 – and at the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital, both in Granada. «At the Clinic we started using it in the ICU preventively after an outbreak and it was eradicated in just three months. In addition to using it preventively in ICUs and operating rooms, it is used correctively in many other spaces, always with excellent effects,” says the expert.

Regarding Covid, these hospitals have launched a pilot experience approved by the Preventive Medicine Service and supported by the CNB study « Study of the germicidal effectiveness of ultraviolet light emitted by a pulsatile xenon light source, irradiating device from the company after this in the boxes and hospital rooms where patients with this pathology have been. “We are verifying that this extra application helps reduce the viral load on surfaces and the results are being very satisfactory not only against SARS CoV-2, but also against other types of isolates caused by multi-resistant microorganisms,” says Sánchez.

Clece has implemented this technology in the social and health centers it manages in both Spain and Portugal. In total, it currently has 37 Xenex robots working in leading healthcare and socio-health centres, thus improving its cleaning protocols.

In Malaga, Xenex is implemented in the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella. The service company currently has 155 workers dedicated to hospital cleaning.

With this innovative and effective system, Clece’s ultimate goal is to lower the rates of nosocomial infections so that hospitals are safe environments and patients are not exposed to harmful microorganisms that could affect their health, especially in high-risk areas.

Comment

Report a bug