WO2022175962A1

WO2022175962A1 - Method of killing or inactivating microorganisms

Info

Publication number: WO2022175962A1
Application number: PCT/IN2021/050154
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ramu Krishnan
Original assignee: Ramu Krishnan
Priority date: 2021-02-18
Filing date: 2021-02-18
Publication date: 2022-08-25

Abstract

The present invention is related to make the surroundings hygiene by killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms that are suspending in the air. Species or type of microorganism is immaterial to work the present invention.

Description

METHOD OF KILLING OR INACTIVATING MICROORGANISMS

The present invention is related to killing or inactivating the microorganisms by using a chemical agent. The present invention is further related to reduction of germ load in a given environment. The present invention is further related to killing or inactivating the disease causing microorganisms. The present invention is further related to green technology for killing or inactivating the microorganisms. The present invention is not sensitive to types of microorganisms to be killed or to be inactivated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Airborne diseases happen all around the world and affect virtually everyone.

They spread easily in close quarters, such as schools and nursing homes. Large outbreaks tend to occur under crowded conditions and in places where hygiene and sanitation systems are poor. Incidence is lower in countries where vaccines are widely available and affordable.

Airborne diseases are illnesses spread by tiny pathogens in the air. These can be bacteria, fungi, or viruses, but they are all transmitted through airborne contact. In most cases, an airborne disease is contracted when someone breathes in infected air. And a person also spreads the disease through their breath, particularly by sneezing and coughing, and through phlegm. These facts make controlling these diseases more difficult.

An airborne transmission is disease transmission through small particulates that can be transmitted through the air over time and distance. Diseases capable of airborne transmission include many of considerable importance both in human and veterinary medicine. The relevant pathogens may be viruses, bacteria, or fungi, and they may be spread through breathing, talking, coughing, sneezing, raising of dust, spraying of liquids, flushing toilets, or any activities which generate aerosol particles or droplets.

Airborne diseases include any that are caused via transmission through the air. Many airborne diseases are of great medical importance. The pathogens transmitted may be any kind of microbe, and they may be spread in aerosols, dust or liquids. The aerosols might be generated from sources of infection such as the bodily secretions of an infected animal or person, or biological wastes such as accumulate in lofts, caves, garbage and the like. Such infected aerosols may stay suspended in air currents long enough to travel for considerable distances; sneezes, for example, can easily project infectious droplets the full length of a bus. Airborne viruses are small enough to essentially become aerosolized. An infected individual can emit them through a cough, sneeze, breathing, and talking.

A susceptible person is someone who has not established immunity to the virus through vaccination or previous infection, or who may have an underlying illness or a weakened immune system that makes them likely to get an infection.

Some airborne viruses can live on surfaces for an hour or two after leaving the body. Then, infections can be transmitted by touching the surface and rubbing your eyes, nose, or mouth.

In general, most airborne viruses are pretty unstable once they leave the body of their host. However, droplets of infected body fluids cannot be underestimated in the role of transmission, and precautions to avoid infection via this route are absolutely necessary.

Many common infections can spread by airborne transmission at least in some cases, including but not limited to: COVID-19; measles morbillivirus, chickenpox virus; Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza virus, enterovirus, norovirus and less commonly coronavirus, adenovirus, and possibly respiratory syncytial virus.

Types of Airborne Viruses

The type and number of airborne viruses are astronomical. Some viruses, such as those that cause the common cold, are capable of mutating (changing) quickly. For this reason, the following list is not comprehensive, but meant to give examples of some of the most common types of airborne viruses:²

• Rhinoviruses (cause common cold symptoms, but are not the only viruses that cause colds)

• Influenza viruses (type A, type B, MINI) e Varicella viruses (cause chickenpox)

• Measles virus

• Mumps virus

• Hantavirus (a rare virus that can be transmitted from rodents to humans)⁶

• Viral meningitis e Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) VIRUSES

• Coronaviruses (COVID-19),

Airborne Illnesses Caused by Bacteria There are certain kinds of airborne illnesses that are caused by bacteria, like anthrax disease. Symptoms and treatment will vary depending on the pathogen, but some of these illnesses can be treated with antibiotics and vaccines.

FACTORS INFLUSING AIR BORNE DISEASES

Relative humidity (RH) plays an important role in the evaporation of droplets and the distance they travel. The 30 pm droplets evaporate in seconds. The CDC recommends a minimum of 40% RH indoors. Maintaining indoor relative humidity >40% will significantly reduce the infectivity of aerosolized virus. An ideal humidity for preventing aerosol respiratory viral transmission at room temperature appears to be between 40% and 60% RH. If the relative humidity goes below 35% RH, there is more virus in the air.

Environmental factors influence the efficacy of airborne disease transmission; the most evident environmental conditions are temperature and relative humidity. The sum of all the factors that influence temperature and humidity, either meteorological (outdoor) or human (indoor), as well as other circumstances influencing the spread of droplets containing infectious particles, as winds, or human behavior, influence the transmission of airborne diseases.

Weather is an important factor in the transmission of any airborne illness. This is why many of these diseases have a season. The flu, for example, usually peaks during months when it is cold outside and people may be confined indoors with poor ventilation.

• Rainfall, the number of rainy days being more important than total precipitation; mean daily sunshine hours; latitude and altitude are relevant when assessing the possibility of spread of any airborne infection. Some infrequent or exceptional events influence the dissemination of airborne diseases, including tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons, or monsoons.¹²³¹

Climate determines temperature, winds and relative humidity, the main factors affecting the spread, duration and infectiousness of droplets containing infectious particles. The influenza virus is spread easily in the Northern Hemisphere winter due to climate conditions which favour the infectiousness of the virus.

• After isolated weather events, the concentration of airborne fungal spores is decreased; a few days later, an exponentially increased number of spores is found, compared to normal conditions.

• Socioeconomics has a minor role in airborne disease transmission. In cities, the spread of airborne disease is more rapid than in rural areas and urban outskirts. Rural areas generally favor higher airborne fungal dissemination.

• Proximity to large bodies of water such as rivers and lakes can be a cause of some outbreaks of airborne disease. • Poor maintenance of air conditioning systems has led to outbreaks of Legionella pneumophila.

• Hospital-acquired airborne diseases are associated with poorly-resourced medical systems, which make isolation challenging.

PRIOR ART PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Some ways to prevent airborne diseases include disease-specific immunization, wearing a respirator and limiting time spent in the presence of any patient likely to be a source of infection

Antibiotics may be used in dealing with air-borne bacterial primary infections, such as pneumonic plague.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises the public about vaccination and following careful hygiene and sanitation protocols for airborne disease prevention. Many public health specialists recommend physical distancing (also known as social distancing) to reduce the transmission of airborne infections.

A 2011 study concluded that vuvuzelas (a type of air horn popular e.g. with fans at football games) presented a particularly high risk of airborne transmission when their operator has a respiratory infection, as they were spreading a much higher number of aerosol particles than e.g. the act of shouting.

Generally, airborne viruses cannot be treated with medication. However, if the type of airborne virus is the flu, antiviral medications such as Tamiflu can shorten its length if taken within 48 hours of symptom onset.

Many over-the-counter medications are used to manage the symptoms caused by airborne viruses. For example, body aches, sore throat, and fever can be managed using over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen.

Cough and cold medications may also be used to manage symptoms but should be used with caution, particularly when one is taking other medications. They should not be given to children under 2.

One of the advices by the medical practitioner given to a patient is adequate rest to recover from an airborne virus. Staying at home and not going to work or school is a personal loss.

Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun is harmful to infectious particles, so airborne viruses are less infectious during long summer days with plenty of sunshine.

KNOWN METHODS OF PROTECTION FROM AIR BORNE DISEASES Vaccines

Vaccinations exist for airborne viruses such as measles, mumps, and varicella. Vaccines have been vital in reducing the number of infections and deaths from these viruses. The best way to protect yourself or others is to become vaccinated.

Vaccines can reduce chances of getting some airborne diseases. Vaccines also lower the risk for others in the community. Airborne diseases that have vaccines include:

• chickenpox

• diphtheria

• influenza: vaccine updated every year to include strains most likely to spread in the coming season

• measles: usually combined with vaccine for mumps and rubella, and is known as the MMR vaccine

• mumps: MMR vaccine

• TB: not generally recommended in the United States

• whooping cough

In developing countries, mass immunization campaigns are helping to lower the transmission rates of some of these airborne diseases.

Good Ventilation

Good ventilation is essential in preventing the spread of airborne viruses. In modern hospitals, high-tech ventilation systems turn over the air at a high rate to prevent the spread of infection. Natural ventilation using doors and windows can also be helpful in some situations (particularly residential areas where pollution or insects are not a concern).

Property maintaining the ventilation system in your home or adding special filters may also help to prevent the spread of illness.

Hygiene

As with all infectious diseases, proper hygiene is essential in preventing the spread of airborne viruses. In particular, always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your elbow when coughing or sneezing. Wash your hands frequently and stay at home when you are sick. It is estimated that you can breathe in airborne viruses easily if you are within about 6 feet of an infected individual. It's a good idea to maintain a healthy distance from anyone known to be infected with these viruses.

Masks

Many people wonder if surgical masks or other face masks will prevent them from getting an airborne illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend the routine wearing of any type of mask for healthy people outside of the healthcare setting for this purpose. However, those who are already ill can wear a face mask to protect others from getting ill.

Therefore, there is a need to invent a preventive method wherein the said method is environment friendly and kill or inactivate the air borne microorganisms to the barest minimum without causing any side effects to the subject before any transmission of a disease onset to a subject in a given environment.

The present invention fulfills the above needs.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention the water comprising oxygen formulation liquid and is released as vapor through a dispenser system in an environment so as to release minute droplets wherein each droplet comprising the oxygen content is more than the content of oxygen of the atmospheric air which kills or inactivates most of the air bone microorganisms.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The first object of the present invention is to invent an environment friendly method to kill or inactivate most of the microorganisms of a chosen environment.

The second object of the present invention is to kill most of the air borne microorganisms by using oxygenated water vapor.

The third object of the present invention is to inactivate most of the air borne microorganisms by using oxygenated water vapor.

The fourth object of the present invention is to design a suitable dispenser/ machine/instrument/apparatus for providing to produce tiny droplets wherein each droplet comprises oxygen content not less than 25% for uniform spread in the given environment. The fifth object of the present invention is related to non-dependence on the species or type of air borne microorganisms that are to be killed or to be inactivated.

The sixth object of the present invention is to provide oxygenated water vapor droplet jet in such environments, such as hospitals, garbage storing areas or such areas wherein air borne microorganisms replicate and float in the surrounding atmosphere, whether open or close, to kill or inactivate most of the air borne microorganisms in such environment.

The seventh object of the present invention is to prepare clean surroundings so as to maintain hygiene.

The eighth object of the present invention is not to release any harmful products into the environment after killing or inactivating most of the air borne microorganisms of a given environment.

The ninth object of the present invention is to reduce the air borne microorganism load of a given environment to the barest minimum or preferably almost zero percentage in contrast with the microorganism load at the beginning of the working of the present invention.

The tenth object of the present invention wherein in a span of few seconds to few minutes the killing or inactivating most of the air bo e microorganisms is performed.

The eleventh object of the invention is to use the present invention in batch mode or once process depending on the requirement.

The twelfth object of the present invention is to reduce most of the air borne microorganism load of a given environment in the presence of Humans and or animals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This detailed description defines the meaning of the terms used herein and specifically describes embodiments in order for those skilled in the art to practice the invention.

In the present description the definition of the phrases or words shall be understood as defined herein. The words or phrases which are not specifically defined shall be construed as the general meaning it carries or as understood by the skilled artisan of the art.

"Liquid composition" as referred herein is oxygenated water wherein oxygen content is 1/20^th to 173^rd of the total weight of the said liquid composition. The word "droplet" as used herein is a liquid composition tiny drop comprises oxygen and water in vapor state.

The word "Pressure" as used herein is the pressure sufficient to throw out the oxygenated water vapor into the environment in a predetermined quantity suiting the volume of the given environment.

The words "dispenser" or "instrument' or "apparatus" or "machine" referring to the same product and interchangeably used and is used for preparing and letting out the pressurized oxygenated water vapor in tiny droplets wherein each droplet comprises oxygenated water vapor comprising at least 25% of oxygen.

The word "microorganism" or "microorganisms" as used herein refers but not limited to bacteria, virus, spores, fungi and interchangeably used with the word "germs"; similarly "microbial load" is interchangeably used as "germ load".

The words "killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms" wherein "most: as used herein refer to at least 90% of microorganisms or germs getting killed or inactivated.

The inventor of the present invention has specifically designed a dispenser for storing and dispensing the oxygenated water in vapor form as and when required. To be precise, the said dispenser has a tank; an inlet for letting oxygenated water into the tank, an outlet for the tiny droplets to come out under pressure for spreading into the given environment, preferably a valve for inlet and the other optionally for outlet.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a liquid composition comprising oxygenated water is transferred to the tank through an inlet valve The pressurized jet of liquid composition in the form of tiny droplets that releases is made to pass through a flexible pipe of a desired length for focused treatment of the environmental air. The said flexible pipe is used to cleanse the surrounding environment at 360 degrees. The said flexible pipe can be moved vertically and horizontally.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention the vapor composition is released a pressure above 17 psi [pounds per square inch].

According to one of the embodiments of the invention the dispenser is made of a metal or metalloid that can withstand the high pressures and does exhibits minimum corrosion. According to one of the embodiments the dispenser is preferably made of stainless steel.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms comprising the steps of; a) Use of a liquid composition comprising oxygenated water wherein the oxygen content is l/20^th to 1/3"¹ of the total weight of the liquid composition; b) transferring the liquid composition of step (a) , comprising oxygenated water into a tank preferably through an inlet valve; c) allowing the liquid composition to form a vapor jet consisting of tiny droplets under pressure of at least 17 psi wherein each droplet water vapor comprises at least 25% of oxygen; d) using the flexible pipe that is attached to outlet for directing the vapor that releases under pressure into the surrounding environment; e) on exposure to the droplets of vapor most of the microorganisms present in the surrounding environment are either killed or inactivated.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating of the microorganisms wherein the microorganisms are killed or inactivated by at least 98 percent.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, the process results in over 99% reduction of microorganisms of an initial colony-forming unit (cfu), in less than 2 minutes.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating of the microorganisms wherein most of the microorganisms are killed or inactivated in less than 10 minutes.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating of the microorganisms wherein most of the microorganisms are killed or inactivated in less than 5 minutes.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating of the microorganisms wherein most of the microorganisms are killed or inactivated in less than 2 minutes.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating of the microorganisms wherein most of the microorganisms are killed or inactivated in less than 1 minute.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms wherein the surrounding environment is made hygiene within short span of time. According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms wherein the surrounding environment is either a closed environment or open environment.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms is performed in the presence of Humans and or animals.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms is performed in a manner extremely safe to Humans and or to animals.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms wherein the environment is selected wherein the environment is conducive for microorganisms' growth or spread or both.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms wherein hospital environment, private environment or a public environment is made hygiene by adopting the present invention.

According to one of the embodiments of the invention a process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms wherein garbage dumping or storing areas are made hygiene by adopting the present invention.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention wherein the process of the invention can be most effectively used to keep Hospitals especially operation theatres, Malls, Hotels, schools and any public place free from most of microorganisms.

Generally, cleanliness or hygiene of a given environmental air is tested by Plate Count Method.

Every Hospital and Pharmaceutical manufacturing unit adopts this Plate Count Test method to check the cleanliness of their premises.

The test involves showing in the Air, a Plate filled with Nutrients that help quick growth of microorganisms.

The lesser the growth of Germs in the plate as observed after 3 days, the better the Air Quality. On adaptation of the process of the present invention when tested on normal Air having thousands of microorganisms has helped in making the same Air have almost NIL microorganisms after its spread.

EXAMPLE The microorganisms investigated in the experiments are Gram-positive bacteria (B. subtilis, S. aureus), Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli, B. A. niger), and fungi (S. cerevisiae, Actinomycetes (5046)) and maintained on nutrient agar slants at 5-6°C. Before the inactivation experiments, microorganisms were harvested by centrifuging (4000 rpm, 4°C) for 10 min and the microorganisms' pellets were washed three times with sterile water. After pouring upper water, E. coli, B. subtilis, S. aureus, S. cerevisiae, and Actinomycetes were inoculated to L-broth (Bacto peptone 10 g/L, Bacto yeast extract 10 g/L, NaCI 5 g/L, ) and then incubated at 37°C on a shaking tray for 12 hours. A. niger was cultured in potato dextrose broth (200 g peeled potato with a size of ~ 4.0 x 2.0 x 2.0 cm³ were cooked in 1000 ml boiling distilled water for 8 min. After passing through four lay cheese cloths, the broth was collected and 20 g of dextrose was added) and incubated at 27°C on a shaking tray for 12 hours. The density of microorganisms was controlled at 10⁷ to 10⁸ cfu/mL. Then, we transferred 0.1 ml resulted microorganisms to glass slide (20 mm x 20 mm) for exposure to oxygen bound water vapor comprising 30 percent oxygen under the dry argon environment (1 atm). All petri dishes and glass microscopy slides used for holding the microorganisms were first autoclaved at 125°C for 1 h. The numbers of colonies on the slides before and after the exposure were determined by the spread plate method with nutrient agar grown at 37°C for 12 h. the oxygen bound water vapor was tested for its contents. Oxygen content by using test method NIOSH-6601 was found to be 30 percent to the total weight of the composition. Water Vapor through the test method MATS/S-SOP/CS/ES-005 was found to be 70 percentage to the total weight of the composition. Nitrogen by the same method found to be insignificantly present in traces.

The inactivation experiments were carried out in a cylindrical quartz reactor with a length of 60 cm and an inner diameter of 15 cm. The microorganism samples prepared were maintained by Petri dishes or slides, which were supported by a copper dish. The inactivation experiments can be performed under different environmental conditions by flowing different gases (such as Ar, He, N2, H2O, and 02). In order to study the effects of the present invention, all inactivation measurements were carried out in the dry argon environment. The reaction temperature was varied by cooling or heating copper dish with a water-cycled system. The oxygen bound water vapor jet is made to fall on the microorganism colonies. The numbers of colonies on the slides before and after the exposure were determined by the spread plate method with nutrient agar grown at 37°C for 12 h. the result found to be greater than 99 percent reduction at the end of less than 2 minutes.

The example as shown above shall be construed as illustrative but not limited to it. The variations, changes and other permissible embodiments shall be construed as part of the present disclosure. While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many different forms, as herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure of such embodiments is to be considered as an example of the principles and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A process or a method of killing or inactivating most of the microorganisms comprising the steps of; a. Use of a liquid composition comprising oxygenated water wherein the oxygen content is 1/20^th to 1/3^rd of the total weight of the liquid composition; b. transferring the liquid composition of step (a) , comprising oxygenated water into a tank preferably through an inlet valve; c. allowing the liquid composition to form a vapor jet consisting of tiny droplets under pressure of at least 17 psi wherein each droplet water vapor comprises at least 25% of oxygen; d. using the flexible pipe that is attached to outlet for directing the vapor that releases under pressure into the surrounding environment; on exposure to the droplets of vapor most of the microorganisms present in the surrounding environment are either killed or inactivated.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said process does not depend upon the species or type of microorganisms that are to be killed or inactivated.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the microorganisms are selected from bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein each droplet comprises at least 25 percent of oxygen in the oxygenated water vapor.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the microbial load of a given environment is reduced by more than 99 percent in the range of 1 to 10 minutes.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the microbial load of a given environment is reduced in the presence of Humans and or animals.

7. A dispenser for the production of pressurized oxygen bound water vapor comprising; a) a tank; b) a means of inlet system of the tank preferably with a valve; c) a means of outlet system of the tank optionally with a valve; d) a flexible hose pipe of suitable length attached to outlet system.

8. The dispenser as claimed in claim 7 wherein the flexible pipe can be rotated horizontally or vertically through 360 degrees.

9. The dispenser as claimed in claim 7 wherein, all the parts are made that can withstand high pressure and corrosion free metal or metalloid or preferably with stainless steel.