There is an easy way to avoid contracting H1N1, it’s called social distancing, don’t get within 10ft of anyone and don’t meet unless it’s in the open air because in the open air viruses are killed quickly. For those in search of a more practical way to avoid viruses, need look no further than Inov8’s AD (Air Disinfectant) brought in by ImmunoChem, it is a machine that mimics infection-busting  characteristics of the outside, indoors.

ImmunoChem Sdn. Bhd. has been in operation for more than 17 years, its core products and services centred on disinfection, medical supplies and chemicals. Its directors are Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Khalid bin Abdul Kadir, a renowned medical practitioner and a recipient of the Merdeka (Freedom) Award 2008 for his work in pioneering research and medical achievements, and his son Suffian Yim Khalid. With the recent outbreaks of H1N1 in Malaysia, the timely collaboration between ImmunoChem and Inov8 Science to introduce the AD in Malaysia is indeed an opportune one for Malaysia herself.

TRANSMISSION OF INFECTION

Through breathing

Breathing does present the normal route for infection, our defences rely on a functioning immune system. In order for airborne transmission to happen the micro organisms of interest must enter the air stream which can take place through a variety of routes. The micro organisms can be dispersed violently into the air as respiratory droplets/droplet nuclei when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Droplet nuclei can remain suspended in air for several hours

Through hands

The scientific evaluation of transmission of pathogens by hand makes it clear that the chances of someone being infected by carriage by touch from an infection site to an uninfected person is extremely low. However, washing under running water throws pathogens on the skin or on the instrument being washed into an atmospheric bio aerosol which can either travel through the air or which all too often colonises, for example, the internal rim of taps where the warm and humid environment is beneficial to the growth of the pathogens.

Healthcare-associated infections

Healthcare-associated infections are infections that are acquired in a hospital or other healthcare setting, such as a hospice or care home, or as a result of a health care intervention or procedure.  For an infection to be ‘healthcare-acquired’, the patient must neither have had the infection, nor have been incubating the infection, prior to attending the health care setting – something that is often difficult to determine.

Hospital infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients on intensive care units (ICUs) in hospitals. Environmental contamination is known to play a role in the spread of infection in hospitals.

ENCLOSED SPACES

Less than 10 generations ago, a large part of our lives was in the open air. Within the past generation, we have made our hospitals, homes, offices, work places, hotels, ships, cars progressively more and more sealed and spent less and less time in the open air. As a result, enclosed spaces present special and considerable hazards of infection. Inevitably, groups congregate in an enclosed space: the bacterial, viral and fungal load shed is directly related to the numbers of people present.

The temperature of an enclosed space is close to the ideal for the propagation of the pathogens. There is growing evidence that the primary immune system is compromised by time spent indoors. All of these factors raise the risk. For hospital patients and for the frail, sick or elderly confined to bed or to their homes, these risk factors can be overwhelming. 

The obvious solution, apart from changing the way we live, is to bring the atmosphere inside to be as close as we can to the natural open air.

THE OPEN AIR FACTOR

In the open air, pathogens are vulnerable to the natural disinfection processes of the open air:  the hydroxyl radical which has been called “nature’s disinfectant” and “vital to life” was originally called the “Open Air factor”. It is called that because although it is ubiquitous throughout the atmosphere as well as crucially in the human body, it isn’t found in enclosed spaces.

The naturally occurring system present in the atmosphere and present in our bodies relies on the hydroxyl radical. Tests have shown that where pathogens are killed by hydroxyl radicals as they are in the open air; there is a raised level of antibodies able to combat the particular pathogen.  As part of those tests, the different effect on the IgM immune system between open air and air in an enclosed room was examined: there was evidence that the immune system was more active in the open air in the presence of hydroxyl radicals than it was in an enclosed room in the absence of the hydroxyl radical. 

THE HYDROXYL RADICAL

The hydroxyl radical kills pathogens by destroying some of their surface proteins and hence the cell wall.  The process has been occurring since the very dawn of time. There are no known pathogenic organisms that are resistant to hydroxyl radicals. 

Pathogenic bacteria are generally classified by their reaction to the Gram stain.  Gram positive bacteria have a tough, thick cell wall, which retains the stain, while Gram negative bacteria have more complex cell wall structures and an outer second lipid membrane, which doesn't retain the stain, and are not as tough. All have an inner lipoprotein membrane spanned by transport proteins which facilitate the movement of nutrients into and waste products out of the cell.

The hydroxyl radical breaks off the surface section of these transport proteins: we know this because in laboratory experiments bacteria fleetingly and lightly exposed to hydroxyl radicals will continue to exist but in a much reduced level of activity, unable to divide and grow. 

As an additional benefit, when the hydroxyl radical acts to break off the fragment of surface protein (known as an epitope) this can pass from the lung into the blood stream and act as an antigen for the IgM immune system.

The hydroxyl radical is present throughout the atmosphere and throughout our bodies and has no adverse effects: indeed quite the contrary. This isn’t a new phenomenon: the hydroxyl radical has been the essential ingredient of the environment and our bodies since the beginning of time.  

The reaction of a hydroxyl radical with a complex carbon bond usually results in the production of other radicals in a cascade reaction that continues until all the chemicals with which it can react have reacted and then the concentration of radical’s decreases rapidly. This rapid decrease is due to the instability of the hydroxyl radical.

Because free radicals are necessary for life, the body has a number of mechanisms to minimize free radical induced damage and to repair damage which may occur.

THE AD SOLUTION

The AD is an affordable and safe device based on 40 years of research into the Open Air Factor, which kills airborne pathogens.

Scientists in the 1960s identified the germ killi