San Antonio - A federal medical center in Las Vegas is taking a leap forward in patient safety with the addition of Xenex Disinfection Services' germ-zapping robot to help the medical center fight the spread of healthcare associated infections (HAI) by using the robot to disinfect rooms, equipment and surfaces throughout the hospital. The portable device uses ultraviolet light to quickly eliminate deadly pathogens and destroy multi-drug resistant organisms that put patients at risk. The military hospital in Las Vegas joins dozens of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals across the nation in utilizing the Xenex room disinfection system, which has been credited for helping other healthcare facilities in the U.S. decrease their MRSA, VRE, norovirus and C.diff infection rates.

The Xenex room disinfection system uses pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV-C) light that is 25,000 times more powerful than sunlight to quickly destroy harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi, and even bacterial spores. Published, peer-reviewed environmental and outcome studies in leading journals such as American Journal of Infection Control have proven that the Xenex UV disinfection system is consistently 20 times more effective than standard chemical cleaning practices and effective against a variety of the most dangerous superbugs, including Clostridium difficile endospores (C.diff), VRE, and staph bacteria like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA. The Xenex system can disinfect a room in minutes and is easily portable, allowing it to be used in virtually any location within the hospital.

Military hospitals are committed to eliminating infections and creating a safer, more effective healthcare system for our active military and veterans. Unfortunately, current hospital cleaning methods and chemicals have proven inadequate at eliminating deadly microorganisms in the healthcare environment. Each year, thousands of military members contract potentially life-threatening infections while seeking care at military hospitals. In addition to indescribable pain and suffering, hospital acquired infections cause thousands of deaths, and each infection can cost the government tens of thousands of dollars. Inadequately-disinfected surfaces within the hospital facilities are often implicated in these infections.
Xenex's pulsed xenon UV room disinfection system has been studied by VA researchers, who report that it provides superior disinfection and quicker cleaning time than traditional cleaning. Treating a single MRSA infection costs approximately $23,000; by contrast, the Xenex UV disinfection system eliminates MRSA and other superbugs from VA patient care areas for less than $3 per room treatment cycle.

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