INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL
HOCl-based system aiming to reduce airborne infection
Dr Thomas Bone-Winkel, founder and CEO of oji Europe, explains the potential impact the company believes its hypochlorous acid-based oji active air system could have in eradicating harmful airborne pathogens in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, and thus significantly reducing the chances of infection for patients, staff, and visitors.
SARS-CoV-1 and MERS are familiar terms to me because I happened to be in China when these broke out. I never wonder why Chinese tourists wear masks wherever they go. People from China have come to hate viruses, and want to protect themselves whenever and wherever they go. When SARS-CoV-2 became a pandemic in early 2020, I was head of the supervisory board of a live entertainment company, and knew our artists would not see a stage for the next years to come. That was not acceptable – so I started calling my engineering friends around the world. The best was my friend in civil engineering from the Punjab. Punjabi people can make ends meet with very little. We took to the blackboard to discuss
the requirements for a technical answer to infections in buildings: (i) it has to be natural, as anything chemical would not be acceptable, (ii) it has to be cheap, as it is a pandemic, and we need to take care of the poorest amongst us, and (iii) it has to be thorough, as just marginal betterments would not be good enough. Filtering does not comply with (ii) and (iii), so we would have to introduce an agent into the air, and any other substance apart from HOCl (hypochlorous acid) does not comply with (i); thus HOCl it was.
One stepping stone after another Now needing to isolate the molecule, bring it into the air, and to be able to measure it, we went to the laboratory. Nature itself provided one stepping stone after the other. HOCl is natural, it can exist as a molecule in the air, it decays automatically but not too fast, and – most importantly – it is not harmful for mammals to inhale, even over extremely long, uninterrupted periods. Producing HOCl outside a mammal’s body is inexpensive, as it takes only water and salt. oji active air can eliminate all bacteria and viruses from both the air, and all surfaces, in a matter of minutes. For spores and yeast it takes a bit longer – but then it is continuous, and in the background, so that people get back their freedom – without masks and social distancing.
HOCl as an immune system agent in white blood cells (phagocytes).
Historical use HOCl The first variant of hypochlorous acid – called ‘Eau de Javel’ – was produced over 200 years ago by Percy and Berthollet in the French village of Javel in the form of potassium hypochlorite (KOCl). A short time afterwards, but before Pasteur discovered that living organisms can cause infectious diseases, Labarraque and Semmelweis found that HOCl was very effective in preventing wound infections and the transmission of puerperal fever. Its anti-infectious properties were recognised even before the widespread use of aqueous chlorine as an antiseptic for traumatic illnesses. During World War I, the use of HOCl
was developed for general hygiene, for wounds, and for therapeutic applications in gangrene, diphtheria, and scarlet fever.
Aqueous chlorine has been the antiseptic of choice for several decades. However, the preparation of the solutions, which should be high in HOCl, was difficult, and the results varied widely.
Rapid degradation The instability of many of the solutions produced resulted in rapid degradation over hours, and produced several problematic chlorine species, including molecular chlorine (Cl2
), chlorate (ClO3 –
hypochlorite (ClO–
), ), and other molecules
that were toxic to tissues and corrosive to surfaces. When solutions mainly consisted of HOCl, they were most effective, and had the highest disinfecting power. In the 1940s, aerosolised solutions of acidified hypochlorite were used in London hospitals as a control measure
October 2022 Health Estate Journal 95
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