NASA developed AiroCide may help to prevent swine flu

An air management system developed by NASA scientists to increase the shelf life of food for astronauts could become an effective tool to prevent swine influenza also.

The technology called AiroCide, an effective indoor environment manager, has shown to reduce infection load in hospitals drastically.

It is now available in India also, the Indian company Great White Technology which has bought the rights said.

The technology uses a process called 'Enconditioning' (environment conditioning) developed by NASA years back when they were mandated with creating an Air Management System which has the capability of annihilating almost every kind of known virus, micro-organism or pathogens so that they could lengthen the life of plants and produce.

"Apart from preventing the build-up of ethylene, this state-of-the-art Enconditioning System has the capability of annihilating almost every kind of known virus, micro-organism or pathogens," managing director of Great White Technology Dharmesh Keshwani said.

Deadly gases like Anthrax too cannot escape its preventive prowess and now, as has been discovered, neither can the Swine Flu Virus, he said.

The company launched the product in India in March and already demonstrated the US FDA approved technology in Bombay Hospital and Wockhardt hospital, he said.

AiroCide Enconditioners are the world's only technology that can actually prevent the spread of this deadly virus and ensure an environment that is safe to live-in for humans and animals alike, said Keshwani explaining how simple the technology to manage.

He said it is easily installed like a plasma television and the air from the room is sucked through the fan and passes through a reaction chamber which holds the patented technology.

The device comes in various sizes depending upon the application and air covered, Keshwani said. The devices can manage 3000 cubic feet of air per machine to 20,000 cu.ft of air per machine, he said.

When asked about the cost, a device handling 5000 cu ft air will cost around Rs one lakh, he said.

"It annihilates completely any micro-organism irrespective of their size and our partners in US have already dispatched these devices to Mexico where the outbreak of swine flu first noted.

Over 30,000 AiroCides have been installed across the globe and more than 1000 units in India in just a period of two months, Keshwani claimed.

"We have already 30 distributors across the country and in Delhi we will be undertaking pilot projects with Fortis and Medicity shortly", he added.