As hospitals around the world look for new and innovative ways to battle deadly pathogens and kill multi-drug resistant organisms that can cause Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI), Western Reserve Hospital has taken a leap into the future with the installation of a LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robot™ that destroys hard-to-kill bugs in hard-to-clean places.

The Xenex robot, affectionately named “Violet” by Western Reserve Hospital team members, uses Full Spectrum™ pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light to quickly destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi and bacterial spores. The portable disinfection system is effective against even the most dangerous pathogens, including Clostridium difficile (C.diff), norovirus, influenza, Ebola and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.Western Reserve Hospital today unveiled the Germ-Zapping Robot that is being used to destroy potentially lethal germs and bacteria lurking in rooms that can pose a risk to patient and employee safety.

“We’ve long been recognized for our commitment to patient satisfaction and exceptional patient care, and a big part of that is providing a thoroughly clean environment at our facility to reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections,” said Dr. Rick Gemma, general surgeon at Western Reserve Hospital. “Using the latest technology for sanitization, such as the Germ-Zapping Robot, gives the hospital an even greater level of patient safety and cleanliness.”

UV has been used for disinfection for decades. The Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot is a new technology that utilizes pulsed xenon (not mercury bulbs) to create germicidal UV light. Pulsed xenon emits high intensity UVC light, which penetrates the cell walls of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus and spores. Their DNA is fused, rendering them unable to reproduce or mutate, effectively killing them on surfaces without contact.

The portable Xenex system can disinfect a typical patient or procedure room in four- or five-minute cycles without warm-up or cool-down times. It can be used in any department and in any unit within a healthcare facility, including isolation rooms, operating rooms, general patient care rooms, contact precaution areas, emergency rooms, bathrooms and public spaces.

The Xenex pulsed xenon UV disinfection system has been credited by healthcare facilities across the U.S. for helping them reduce their infection rates significantly. Several hospitals have published their C.diff, MRSA and Surgical Site infection rate reduction studies in peer-reviewed journals – showing infection rate reductions in excess of 70 percent. Nearly 400 hospitals, Veterans Affairs and DoD facilities in the U.S., Canada, Africa, UK and Europe are using Xenex robots, which are also used in skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and long-term acute care facilities.