This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

USE OF A SPECIAL UNIT FOR STERILIZING THE AIR IN THE OPERATING ROOM

DERYL HART, M.D.; JOHN W. DEVINE, M.D.; D. W. MARTIN, M.D.

Arch Surg. 1939;38(5):806-815.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

There are many reports in the literature dealing with the effect of ultraviolet radiation on bacteria. In an effort to kill the bacteria floating in the air of the occupied operating room we turned to such radiation, which is known to have strong bactericidal properties. (Wells¹ has been working on a similar problem, an attempt to control contamination of air from the standpoint of public health.) We have used cold tubes 30 inches (75 cm.) long, containing argon, neon and mercury. Over 80 per cent of the output of such tubes (which have already been described²) is at 2,537 angstrom units, and the apparatus offers the following advantages:

1. High output in the bactericidal range of the spectrum and low output in the erythemic range.

2. Negligible production of ozone, which is rarely detectable by odor even with as many as sixteen tubes burning in the operating room. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
DURHAM, N. C.

From the Department of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine, and Duke Hospital.

Footnotes
Over 80 per cent of the output at 2,537 angstrom units, giving an intensity of approximately 30 microwatts per square centimeter at the point of exposure.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?