Oxygen Bags Could Fight Bioterror Attacks
A kit containing
an inexpensive sensor and a plastic bag hooked up to an oxygen tank could
become a frontline tool for injury treatment as well as a significant defense
against certain biological attacks, scientists said.
As patients
inhale the oxygen supplied and regulated by the kits, it suffuses their
wounds and helps the flesh heal faster with minimized scarring, the scientists
said.
In addition,
"if there's a dermal anthrax or smallpox attack, by treating patients with
this oxygen device we can kill the biological weapons cheaply, effectively
and quickly," Sandia National Laboratory scientist Raymond Shaum told United
Press International.
"There's a
huge federal market for this device," Shaum added. "We can imagine it helping
to treat bedsores in (Veterans' Administration) hospitals or to help people
with burns quickly on the spot -- but if they're needed against attacks,
they're there."
Oxygen helps
kill germs on the skin or in wounds and helps flesh heal itself. Clinical
tests suggest the healing kits shorten treatment times for wounds, burns,
abrasions, plastic surgery and skin ulcers. Also, Shaum said, oxygen's
antiseptic effect means expensive biohazard disposal procedures are not
necessary and the bags simply can be tossed in the trash.
Called Numobags
and created by Numotech of Northridge, Calif., the devices basically are
disposable plastic sacks resembling common kitchen bags. Plastic sensors
developed by Sandia lab scientists monitor oxygen pressure in the bags
using springs.
"According
to clinical studies, the effectiveness of oxygen treatment changes quite
a bit depending on the air pressure.
Oxygen toxicity
can result if the pressure is too much and you have inadequate healing
if the pressure is too little," Shaum said.
The scientists
invented cheap sensors that could monitor oxygen pressure without skilled
assistance from doctors or nurses. "The sensors had to be totally non-electric.
In an oxygen-rich environment, you don't want electrical sparks," Shaum
said.
Oxygen-based
treatments are available at some hospitals, but they require massive metal
chambers pressurized to two or three atmospheres, where patients breathe
high levels of oxygen under supervision from trained clinicians.
The hyperbaric
chambers, as they are called, are the same as those used to treat divers
suffering from decompression sickness -- the bends. They are costly to
build and maintain and require extensive cleaning after each use to avoid
cross-contamination of infections among patients using the chambers.
The cost for
a conventional hospital oxygen treatment can reach $1,500, Numotech president
Robert Felton said, while the Numobags cost only about $185. "Patients
can also walk around freely if they can with our device," Felton said.
"It really improves patient morale."
The U.S. government
has awarded Numotech a five-year license to make the devices available
to the military. The Numobag was approved by the Food and Drug Administration
two years ago and currently is used in hospitals in Florida and California.
Soon the device will be used at the University of New Mexico Hospital,
where surgeons will test it on the most serious wound infection they deal
with: necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as flesh-eating disease.
"We have in
New Mexico one of the highest amounts of necrotizing fasciitis, maybe because
our oxygen content is lower, because of our higher altitude," said hospital
surgeon Glen Heywood. "While other institutions report 20 or 50 cases over
a 10-year period, we see that number in one year here."
Flesh-eating
disease is fatal 20 percent to 30 percent of the time, Heywood told UPI,
adding he thinks the Numobag "may be a promising treatment. That's the
question we hope to answer in randomized, prospective clinical trials."
--
Copyright 2002 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
--
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