The Innovative Approach That's Being Used to Stop the Spread of Ebola in Dallas

The Dallas hospital housing the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. isn't leaving much to chance.

Image source: YouTube

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is using a germ-killing robot to clean the room where Thomas Eric Duncan is being treated in isolation. It works by shining ultraviolet light about 25,000 times brighter than sunlight combined with the element xenon to disinfect spaces potentially ridden with germs and bacteria.

The machine can disinfect up to 2 to 3 square meters in only five minutes, Mashable reported.

Similar devices have existed for years, but Xenox, the San Antonio-based manufacturer, has developed a way in which it can replace the mercury used in other machines with UV light. A Xenox representative said it would take a mercury-based device one hour to disinfect the same amount of space.

There's another advantage besides saving time: the machine also works on "superbug" bacteria that can develop immunity from traditional disinfectants and remain a critical challenge for hospitals.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is among just one of about 250 facilities nationwide using the machine. It became commercially available in 2010 and today sells for a base price of $104,000.

Watch this video to see how the revolutionary robot works:

(H/T: Mashable)

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