Sharp air conditioning technology can inactivate viruses including influenza, and potentially deadly bacteria, the company claims. The âplasmacluster ion air purificationâ system generates positive and negative ions, which react with microparticles, including microbes, Sharp says.
âOur survey has indicated that this is the first time an electronics manufacturer has scientifically proved a certain technology was effective in inactivating viruses and bacteria,â says a Sharp spokesman. The study will be presented in detail at a conference later in 2002.
John Oxford, an influenza expert at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry says Sharpâs microbiology looks theoretically sound. âInfluenza is easier than most to inactivate â itâs a fairly fragile virus,â he says. He thinks it is possible the system could be useful in doctorâs waiting rooms, or on airplanes.
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But Elizabeth McCruden, a virologist at Glasgow University, Scotland, cautions: âA respiratory virus spread through the air would be in a droplet full of secretions. The air conditioning system might work with virus taken from cell culture, but that virus might not be inactivated in the context of how it actually travels â in a nasty droplet.â
She adds that most respiratory infections, along with the superbug MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus), are transmitted by touch. So even if the system could eliminate viruses or bacteria from the air, this would not impact on the primary route of transmission.
Flu filter
The positive and negative ions from Sharpâs plasmacluster are attracted to charged microparticles, including influenza virus, Coxsackie viruses â a frequent cause of colds â and MRSA. When exposed to the air-con ions, Sharp claims 99 per cent of these bugs were eliminated from lab samples.
The company conducted the research in conjunction with a team at Kitasato University, Japan. This team thinks the attracted ions work by destroying surface proteins on the virus or bacterium, meaning the microbe cannot reproduce.
But a 99 per cent reduction might not have a huge impact on the risk of transmission, says Oxford. âIf youâve got a lot of influenza, for example, floating around, you could still have a lot left with 99 per cent gone. I would love to see 99.9 or even 100 per cent reduction.â
Oxfordâs team is working on a mask that filters influenza from the air. His team has recently conducted tests involving infecting students with the virus in a quarantine lab. That sort of test should be conducted by Sharp, he says.
Sharp plasmacluster ion air purification units have been on sale only in Japan since 2000. They were designed to inactivate airborne fungi, moulds and odour-causing molecules. The research involving flu and other microbes has only just been completed, Sharp says. Other companies also manufacture âair-cleaning systemsâ that produce ions.