Tested >99.9% Anti-Coronavirus Activity – Reduce Risks of COVID-19 Infections and Transmissions with Optipura

“We now know how the efficacy in viral reduction of Optipura corresponds to the success of current Optipura hygiene applications.  This, together with ease of implementation and professionalism supports the wider adoption of Optipura in spaces as a promising means in helping prevent serious COVID-19 infections and dreaded post COVID-19 effects.”

INTRODUCTION

At the start of 2020 we highlighted in an article that COVID-19 was in fact not only transmitted via environments through contact with surfaces but also significantly through the air.  This was soon recognized to be true by many including the World Health Organization [1].

Then we reasoned given real-world effectiveness in cases of reducing the transmission of virus infections in care centres, that Optipura’s plasma technology would benefit in applications against a wide range of viruses, including coronaviruses that infect humans.  And according to independent lab tests we were right.

Coronavirus deactivation determined by infecting healthy cells with viruses that were some distance away from an operating Optipura unit in a room.

A GREAT SOLUTION THEN AND NOW AGAINST COVID-19

Optipura commercial air purifiers have long been used in areas where a better level of hygiene is required in various scopes (Fig. 1), and with good outcomes.

Its utilisation of germicidal UV, accelerated photodegradation and plasma allows it to not only deactivate and kill germs such as bacteria and viruses that pass through the machine but also to sanitise the air and surfaces outside of the machine, beyond what other purifiers are capable of. 

The confirmation of Optipura’s ability to deactivate the coronavirus as determined by the laboratory therefore did not come as a surprise to many existing hygiene-centric users. Instead it placed additional focus on the use of Optipura against the coronavirus and COVID-19. 

With the coronavirus being better understood now, COVID-19 is proving to be more than a simple disease. While some people who were infected suffer a variety of long-term issues (see Fig. 2) described as post-COVID condition or “long COVID” [2] , many of those who make a full recovery only do so to get re-infected regardless their vaccination status [3, 4].

Given such and that many people may spend up to 90% of their time indoors [5], it thus becomes apparent that the avoidance of infections indoors by lowering exposure to the coronavirus becomes significant in minimizing, if not preventing severe COVID-19. This is precisely what Optipura does by significantly lowering coronavirus counts where people gather, and can do so safely and comfortably too.

Fig. 2.  Some of about 200 post-COVID symptoms reported in patients. 

Contact us to enquire on the full benefits of an Optipura anti-viral solution for areas in your workplace and to lower your risks of serious and long term COVID-19 infections.

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.optipura.com

REFERENCES
[1]- WHO Newsroom Q&A – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): How is it transmitted.

[2]- Diaz, J. (2021). World Health Organisation. Science in 5 – Episode 47 – Post COVID-19 condition 

[3]- Malhotra, S., et al (2021) – COVID-19 infection, and reinfection, and vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection among health care workers in the setting of omicron variant transmission in New Delhi, India. The Lancet – Regional Health, Southeast Asia.

[4]- Rahman, S., et al (2022) – COVID-19 reinfections among naturally infected and vaccinated individuals. Nature. Scientific Reports 12, Article no. 1438 (2022).

[5]- EPA – Report on the Environment – Indoor Air Quality. What are the trends in indoor air quality and their effects on human health? (2021)

Treat and Prevent Sick Building Syndrome

Sick Building Syndrome Present Today

At the time of writing COVID-19 is raging throughout the world and taking numerous lives in its path. As this deadly disease continues to occupy news headlines daily, many other worldwide health concerns that would otherwise be important enough to be kept on the radar of health authorities in first world and developing nations lie eclipsed by media coverage, while continuing to exist and exert negative effects on human health.

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) stands out prominently as one global health issue that requires continued attention as it concerns a major demographic in mainly urban populations, i.e. people who spend a significant proportion of their time indoors negatively affecting their health, well-being and quality of life, as well as their productivity.

The term ‘Sick Building Syndrome’ evolved during the mid-1980s, being used prominently by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to describe a condition where a group of people who spent a significant amount of time in a building, typically hours daily, developed symptoms of illness that often improve or vanish upon spending time away from the building⁽¹⁾.

Then it was estimated that SBS affected somewhere in a range of 10-30% of buildings. Affected occupants of these sick buildings would experience one or a combination of symptoms including but not limited to headaches, nausea, dizziness, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, fatigue, non-specific allergies, hypersensitivity and a general feeling of unwellness that were not necessarily consistent by range and intensities between sufferers⁽¹⁾.

Fig 1. Thought of as typically affecting office buildings, Sick Building Syndrome can take place in any indoor space including homes.

Multiple Causes of Sick Building Syndrome

As one would expect from the varied range of symptoms earlier described, there are in fact several causes of SBS that involve factors specific to the affected individuals and their exposure to suboptimal physical conditions or indoor pollutants.

While causes particular to specific individuals refer to psychological aspects such as work-related stress and are difficult to project specifically onto other groups affected in other buildings by SBS, other contributing factors are better understood today to help identify places where SBS is occurring or has a high risk of developing.

1. Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) – Poor IAQ is perhaps the most prominent contributor to SBS by frequency and effect since each component is capable of exerting a significant direct physiological effect on persons by themselves. Seen as sub-contributors these components may be described as follows.

a. Inadequate ventilation – Essentially the exchange of gases between a space and an environment, in the context of buildings ventilation often involves the mechanically assisted introduction of outdoor air, or ‘fresh air’ into a space. Assuming that the air outdoors is indeed ‘fresh’, its introduction serves two essential purposes of providing a supply of oxygen needed for metabolic biochemical reactions at the base of aerobic respiration as well as lowering by dilution carbon dioxide levels correspondingly expired by occupants as a by-product.

Fig 2. Graphic illustrating multiple and non-specific factors that may contribute to Sick Building Syndrome.

Being exposed to sub-optimal thermal conditions may result in compromised task performance by accuracy and speed. In more extreme or prolonged situations, thermal discomfort may encourage and/or trigger symptoms such as cold and/or numbness in extremities, lack of circulation, cognitive impairment, rashes, cramps and even strokes.

c.  Airborne Particulate Matter (PM) – While the human respiratory system possesses an adaptation involving mechanical ciliary removal to deal with these contaminants, airborne PM becomes significant in IAQ and SBS, aside from toxic effects of exposure to skin, when they are either very small, being able to penetrate into the alveoli beyond the reach of intrinsic human biological airway clearing mechanisms, and/or are able to illicit irritation or toxicity upon inhalation. Well known specific examples of toxic particulates with terminal prognoses include asbestosis and silicosis.

As a parameter of IAQ airborne PM encompasses anything ‘counted’ as a particle by current detection methods. As such PM in IAQ is not limited to solids being directly introduced or as a product of disintegration from larger units of existing materials but includes airborne biologics and chemical condensate or droplets and aggregates that are introduced or are formed as conditions become conducive in an enclosed space.

Symptoms of over-exposure to airborne PM may, therefore, correspond to more specific physical, chemical and biological nature of the causative contaminant(s), including coughing, difficulty breathing, irritation to eyes, nose, throat and skin, with developed non-specific hypersensitivity, asthma and rashes as potential long-term effects. A more modern understanding of over-exposure to PM is its link to specific premature deaths in people with heart or lung conditions.

d. Build-up of Chemical Contaminants – The chemicals that often end up accumulating in the air are largely organic in nature and typically come from (i) the off-gassing of building materials used such as paints and coatings, floorings and carpeting, fittings and furnishings, as well as glues, adhesives, heat-resistive or fungicidal additives, as well as from (ii) operational activities by occupants indoors such as cooking, fabrication and manufacturing.

Specific effects of chemical accumulation in an indoor environment on people are sometimes as hard to predict as the wide variety in which they are increasingly available in the marketplace, but maybe generalised as symptoms related to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and certain fumes and gases.

Formaldehyde is probably one VOC that deserves mention on its own given that it is a very common contaminant indoors, being formed by-product of consequential or natural degradative processes of many carbon-based materials, adhesives and additives. Perhaps more seriously, it is closely linked to incidences of cancer⁽⁶⁾. In the indoor environment, formaldehyde is known to off-gas from painted surfaces, furniture (particularly compressed particle or wood chip panels) and carpeting and may also be produced by incomplete combustion in related activities such as cooking or the use of candles.

Carbon monoxide (molecular formula CO) is another gas also related to incomplete combustion and is significant in SBS when it is present owing to its toxicity. Specifically, the molecule CO has the ability to bind irreversibly with the oxygen-carrying component in the blood (haemoglobin) to effectively end its biological function of interchangeably accepting and releasing oxygen and carbon dioxide in respiration. It tends to be found in indoor spaces next to enclosed parking or cooking activities where the exhaust is insufficient and can give rise to symptoms associated with anaemia such as headaches, dizziness and nausea and in higher doses can cause loss of consciousness.

Otherwise where SBS is concerned the majority of chemical contaminants in the air typically cause or contribute to symptoms such as difficulties with breathing, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. VOCs, in particular, may additionally exert neurotoxic effects associated with a specific VOC such as adverse effects to cognitive abilities in the longer term as in the case of chronic high exposures to certain solvents.

e. Biological Contaminants – Aside from the known pathogens responsible for specific BRIs, the general presence of biological contaminants by amount and type (such as bacteria and fungi) is thought to exert a biological load or stress on occupants in an enclosed environment that may adversely affect their health⁽⁷⁾.

Understanding that the mix of biological contaminants in any given place may differ considerably from another by relative quantity and composition, the resulting adverse health reactions once again present themselves as the wide range of non-specific symptoms expected in SBS, but in these cases brought about by the pathogenicity of the microorganisms themselves and/or interactions with metabolic intermediates released into the environment as toxins by these microorganisms.

2. Other Environmental Factors – Being in a built-up environment also means being exposed to other created aspects of an environment that provides stimuli that may cause or exacerbate SBS.

a. Poor lighting quality – As a key ability to interpret the environment around our physical beings, visual perception may instead cause neurological symptoms when provided with lighting that creates a strain in the associated eye-brain interaction. In these situations, lighting intensities that are either deemed too high or too low, flickering lights and even the colour rendering of light may result in or exacerbate discomfort such as headaches, migraines and dizziness⁽⁹⁾.

b. Poor Acoustics – Inappropriate sound stimuli may also work subconsciously to affect the psychological and even physiological states of persons. For example, it is known that low frequencies in the range 10Hz to 200Hz can cause extreme distress in affected people(8). While rarely being significant in SBS in most cases, being exposed to poor acoustics such as sounds or noises that are too loud, of extreme frequencies or generally regarded as disturbing may contribute to exacerbate discomfort and irritability.

c. Odour – Technically chemicals that stimulate the olfactory organs, odours also exert neurological effects and contribute to SBS if deemed too intense, inappropriate or generally unpleasant enough to cause annoyance and irritability that could result in headaches, dizziness and migraines.

d. Others – There are perceivably other aspects of the built-up environment that persons suffering from SBS may have been exposed to, with various types of electromagnetic (EM) radiation and poor ergonomics as examples and others that may remain unknown. Symptoms in these cases tend to be neurological as with other causes involving stimuli involving the corresponding senses, with potential longer term effects manifested physiologically.

The Process to Remedy Sick Building Syndrome

Fig 3. Solving sick building syndrome issues typically involves a standard self-diagnostic workflow with provision for external assistance.

Once some indication on probable cause(s) becomes available, corresponding immediate mitigation or remedial actions affecting either or all of the people, building hardware and software would need to be expedited and the condition monitored for improvement till resolution. If a high-level risk to human health and safety is discovered an immediate action would be to evacuate affected spaces of people until they are proven safe once again for occupation.

Resolving SBS in a given building may sometimes be as simple as improving the quality of lighting, dampening sounds, or making tweaks to the air-conditioning and/or mechanical ventilation or removing an identified pollutant such that prevailing standards to their corresponding parameter are met. At other times, a wider perspective may be needed and external assistance may be warranted to start getting significant improvements underway. In all cases given that SBS may only become apparent over an extended period, it should be expected that the effectiveness of remedial actions may correspondingly take time to be determined and confirmed.

An added note in the process of dealing with sick building syndrome issues is that good communication between all stakeholders plays an essential part throughout the course and is a strong determinant to the speed and quality of the outcome.

Preventing Sick Building Syndrome:

Since the causes of SBS are multiple and non-specific, preventing it in the first place, it would logically require a generally broad approach. How SBS prevention is then put into practice really depends on the state of a building, and this takes into consideration if a building is an existing one, or if it is yet to be built.

Fig 4. Preventing sick building syndrome mainly involves systems (policies and procedures) and adherence to them by the respective stake-holders.

1. Raise and/or review the Building Profile including:

• Intended use, design, specification and layout of the building structure and critical hardware such as ventilation and lighting.
• Performance and history of the above.
• Tenancy profiles & history (include registration records, copies of permits and licenses).

2.  Review the building operation and management policies and procedures pertaining to:

• Occupancy (registration, permits, property checks, complaints, etc.)
• Hardware (scheduled maintenance)
• Detection, feedback, remedies and improvement (regarding hardware and tenants)

3.  Review available records and analyse data for conformance and/or adequacy including:

• Performance and servicing records for hardware.
• Test results for indoor conditions including IAQ, lighting, acoustics.
• Tenancy feedback, including complaints or indications of occupant satisfaction & subsequent resolution.

4.  Take appropriate measures to bring building performance standards up to levels needed to accommodate the sustenance of healthy occupation in the building noting possible:

• Adjustment, replacement or addition of equipment.
• Policy or procedural changes involving tenants.

Taking measures to prevent SBS from the start means fulfilling a fundamental obligation of building owners to provide a safe indoor environment for occupants. In doing so active prevention of SBS also helps avoid costs related to lost productivity, medical reimbursements, remedial actions, as well as potential legal fees and liabilities associated with SBS outbreaks. Factor in other non-tangible opportunity costs that may appear in the wake of an outbreak in the form of loss of reputation as regarded by tenants, employees and their customers, a likelihood of lower rent valuations, as well as the loss of faith from among the owners and building management and it becomes quite apparent that the prevention of SBS should not only be obvious as policy in any building but also a priority.

Applying Optipura Technology to Remedy and Prevent Sick Building Syndrome

Some of the most common SBS symptoms are brought about by poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and in these cases, options for the remedy or prevention of such symptoms may come in affordable and easy-to-implement offerings such as Optipura.

Table 1.  Action of Optipura technologies on two major groups of contaminants typically involved in sick building syndrome.

Importantly with gas plasma technology present, effects take place both inside and outside of the equipment, translating to a reduction of contaminants in exposed air and surfaces as well in applied environments. This phenomenon comes in particularly useful in situations involving infective biologicals where cross-infection or contamination poses a threat to health and safety.

Another upside to the energisation-based triple technologies in use is that they work without the addition of chemicals. In fact, Optipura units utilise many of the same excitation wavelengths that are present from the Sun that are known to create this cleaning effect, essentially mimicking this natural purification process and may be seen as bringing indoors some benefits of the fresh outdoors. In many environments where Optipura is applied it is not surprising thus that end-users’ feedback that spaces feel refreshed and revitalised; properties that are not only welcomed in living and recreational areas but desirable in meeting and work environments.

Significantly in an enclosed space, operating without added chemicals means that air purification with Optipura does not further add to the total chemical load in occupied spaces. This therefore avoids the many potential risks and hazards to health associated with chemical accumulation, encouraging a healthier indoor environment overall.

Implementing an Optipura solution is typically straightforward owing to the plug-and-play versatile form of the equipment that allows them to be used portable, integrated with central configurations or to be sited at specific application spaces. A version with a HEPA filter adds to the versatility in the last application to add a point of use particulate capture while allowing them to blend into standard work environments.

This configurable versatility and powerful action have enabled Optipura in many cases to either be deployed as a quick fix to IAQ issues contributing to SBS symptoms or as an additive solution to infrastructure, often proving to be most feasible by time and cost-effectiveness when used as a solution or a prevention measure.

Optipura is backed by decades of experience in IAQ consultancy working with multinationals, government agencies and small and medium enterprises. Feel free to contact us to understand more of how an Optipura solution may work to address or prevent sick building syndrome in your property today.

References:

(1). US EPA (1991) – “Indoor Air Facts No.4: Sick Building Syndrome” (PDF). Retrieved 2009-02-19

(2). Kumar Nag, Pranab (2018). Office Buildings: Health, Safety and Environment. Springer. p. 85. ISBN 9789811325779.

(3). Ghaffarianhoseini A. et al (2018) – “Sick building syndrome: are we doing enough?”. Architectural Science Review. Volume 61, 2018 – Issue 3

(4). Parbati Dhungana & Manisha Chalise (2020) – “Prevalence of sick building syndrome symptoms and its associated factors among bank employees in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal”: Indoor Air. 2020 Mar;30(2):244-250. doi: 10.1111/ina.12635. Epub 2020 Jan 22

(5). Kunnikar (2020)- “‘Sick Building Syndrome’ in City Dwellers 2020”: Wownews. February 17, 2020 (https://qswownews.com/sick-building-syndrome-in-city-dwellers-2020/)

(6). Swenberg, J.A. et al (2013) – “Formaldehyde Carcinogenicity Research: 30 Years and Counting for Mode of Action, Epidemiology, and Cancer Risk Assessment”. Toxicol Pathol. 2013 Feb; 41(2): 181–189.

(7). Andualum Z. et al (2019) – “Indoor bacterial load and its correlation to physical indoor air quality parameters in public primary schools”. Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine volume 14, Article number: 2 (2019) (https://mrmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40248-018-0167-y)

(8). Leventhall H G. (2004) “Low frequency noise and annoyance. Noise Health”.[serial online] 2004 [cited 2020 Jul 4];6:59-72. Available from: http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2004/6/23/59/31663

(9). Passarelli, Guiseppe Ryan (2009). “Sick building syndrome: An overview to raise awareness”. Journal of Building Appraisal. 5: 55–66.

Be Prepared against Coronavirus COVID-19 with OPTIPURA®, More than an Air Purifier for Viruses. 

“Optipura commercial air purifiers utilise advanced technologies and the mobile gaseous plasma principle that are particularly well-suited against viruses and other air or droplet borne infective agents.  This innovation works as its sanitizing power takes place both inside the device and throughout an applied space outside of it to create more hygienic environments that lower the risk of infection and transmissions.”

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 strain of coronavirus was reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 31^st December 2019.  It has since, at the time of writing, infected tens of thousands globally, has claimed the lives of thousands and has the potential to affect many more people, communities and businesses in ways that are yet to be fully realised.

As remote as it may seem, an air purifier could be what you may need during times like these.  They are after all used indoors, a destination which the majority of us spend most of our time, and may perceivably do some good for an illness that “may be in the air”.  If you are specifically looking for an air purifier for viruses for your workplace, you may need to consider more than a standard air purifier.

Illustration 1: A sneeze releasing a fine aerosol spray of droplets carrying millions of bacteria and viruses that contaminate the air and

THE RIGHT WORKINGS TO CURB TRANSMISSIONS 

This is where the Optipura fits in.  Optipura air purifiers utilise technologies that have long been established as being able to break down a broad spectrum of potential pathogens in the air and on surfaces in spaces where they are installed, rendering them unviable and incapable of infection. 

These include germicidal ultraviolet light, accelerated photo-degradation and plasma that by themselves already exert an anti-microbial effect, but work with synergy when simultaneously employed in Optipura equipment (more information at https://optipura.com/technology/).  As described later in this article, this translates to several advantages of utilising Optipura equipment over standard air purifiers.

In application Optipura deactivates viruses in the air and surfaces in the implemented space by the following process (see illustration 2):

1. Contaminated air is drawn into the purifying chamber of the OPTIPURA air purifier and is exposed to high intensity germicidal light rays.  This alters the DNA and RNA in microorganisms such as viruses to make them unviable.

2. Here potential pathogens are also made unviable when they come into contact with surfaces where they are oxidised by the activated APD™ surface technology.

3. Concurrently, the air in the chamber is energised to a plasma state that further breaks down any organic contaminants in contact with it.

4. This active, energised plasma, comprising a bipolar, energised mix of ions, is pushed out into the surroundings and continues its antimicrobial action in the air all around a room, degrading virus particles upon contact and stripping them of their viability.

5. As these plasmas travel to contact all surfaces, edges and sides in the applied environment, it continues its sanitising effect there, working at all angles and directions to lower the number of viable infective particles and consequently the risk of transmission in the applied volume.

The important aspect worth noting is that the air gains a sanitising property after being energised by Optipura; elevated from a mere transport medium of viruses into an active component that actually begins breaking them down upon their exposure to plasma.   A somewhat parallel analogy with water would be how chlorine makes swimming pool water inhospitable to potential disease-causing microorganisms introduced by an infected swimmer, thereby denying their survival and infection of other swimmers.

Graph 2: Results indicating positive results of implementing Optipura in care centres that experienced transmission of illness due to a specific virus pathogen.

As example in real-world applications, significant drops of new cases of viral infections were reported in facilities where certain levels of care were expected after a program utilising Optipura equipment was implemented (see Graph 2).

Aside from the positive outcomes, such deployments highlight how the advantages of Optipura’s gaseous sanitisation technology complement and enhance existing mechanical ‘wipe-down’ cleaning programs; hitting spots that may have been otherwise been missed, and by working even during off-hours, all to help prevent the transmission of viral disease at work places.

Illustration 3:  Smears and droplets left over a meeting table by contact and conversation by attendees.  Common contact surfaces such as these may play a key role in viral transmission at the work place.

Optipura is easy to implement and works well to complement existing air-cleaning equipment and hygiene programs, comfortably integrating unobtrusively as they do in thousands of installations worldwide to deodorise, sanitize and purify indoor environments.  If you are looking for an air purifier for viruses, the occasion calls for an Optipura, more than an air purifier.

OUR BEST FOR YOU

You may have several things on your mind when taking measures to prevent or even control the transmission of diseases at your work place.  We at Optipura understand these concerns and have a good track record of professionalism and discretion that is trusted by many of the best names in industry.

If you are considering a more comprehensive solution for COVID-19 preparedness visit us at www.optipura.com.  Alternatively email us and one of our trained professionals will be in touch to help you determine which Optipura would work best for you.

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.optipura.com

REFERENCES

[1] American Lung Association – https://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2016/05/sneeze-versus-cough.html

[2] Dr. Anthony Fauci, immunologist and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, CNN, Feb 22