Germs in School - Arghh!!

With fears of a Bird Flu Pandemic looming and the lack of preparedness of most organizations such as schools, businesses, government centers, and other locations to deal with halting the spread of disease, it is necessary to have measures that will impede the manner in which germs and viruses are spread. The US alone lost $260 B in productivity losses due to illness. Current student population in the US alone is estimated at over 72 million. Current office workers in the US are estimated at about 157 million. In all cases, virtually no steps are taken to sterilize common implements (computers, trash cans, writing implements, telephones) to prevent the spread of diseases.

Capitalizing on the well known and established technology of UV sterilization, various inventions noted in the US Patent and Trademark Office have been patented and are awaiting industry adoption to solve these problems. These patents use UV technology for diverse common consumer and business devices to halt the spread of germs and viruses from common items. One can search for such inventions readily at the USPTO web site at uspto.gov

Some of these patents cover sterilization of computer keyboards and other input devices (Mouse, trackball etc.), writing implements, telephones, and trash receptacles. Use of these patents will cover literally tens of millions of people who would otherwise be exposed to disease causing pathogens. Given that most schools have computer labs these days, and those labs are used every day by hundreds of students who sneeze on their hands and then type or use the mouse, its no wonder that disease can run rampant through a school, and in the families of those with children attending classes. The workplace is no different. How many times have your co-workers come in with colds in full bloom. While in our work ethic society this may seem like the macho thing to do, in no time at all half the workplace can be sick. Th lost productivity alone is in the billions!

The inventions that have been awarded patents have a common element of UV sterilizing light source combined with a timer and safety switch to avoid exposure of human eyes to the UV sources involved. In certain instances ( and only if desired), UV light sources at shorter UV wavelengths can produce minimal amounts of ozone which is then circulated via a small fan in and around the area to be sterilized. This leads to a more complete sterilization than UV light alone. The amount of ozone produced is minimal and limited by a timed cycles of sterilization.

The UV sterilization of these patents will successfully kill a wide variety of disease causing pathogens (data provided as part of due diligence) that reside on devices commonly used by most of the population in the US and other developed countries making the market potential enormous. For example, US patents 6,039,928, 6,301,359, 6, 365,113, 6,490,351all deal with different ways of sterilizing commonly used items and will significantly reduce the potential for exposure to germs and viruses in the schools and workplace. Now if only the private and public sector would catch on! (for more infromation contact Jon Roberts 703-391-2900)