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Out
of concern for the public health, Healthline Medical
would like to propose the use of its
Medicator +Plus® Aerosol
Maximizer
as a potential safeguard against the spread of Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) by aerosol droplets
generated during nebulizer therapy. We advocate
the use of absolute filtered aerosol drug delivery
during therapy in highly infectious lung diseases and
when using aerosols to which caregivers should not be
exposed. |
| Photo:
Medicator+Plus Aerosol Maximizer aerosol drug
delivery system showing the manifold, 1 liter
reservoir bag, small volume nebulizer and exhalation
filter. Note the noseclips -- additional
protection against environmental contamination by
small volume nebulizer aerosol particles. Mask
setup also available. |
The basis for
this caution can be found in the April 7, 2003 report in the
New England Journal of Medicine by Lee, et al, entitled
"A Major Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome in Hong Kong:"
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Current
SARS News & Resources |
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Abstract
on NEJM Web Site |
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Full
Article in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format |
Quote
from the report in New England Journal of
Medicine: "We
suspected that the infection was transmitted
by droplets and possibly by fomites, and we
therefore instituted both airborne
precautions (e.g., use of the N-95
respirator) and contact precautions (e.g.,
use of gowns and gloves), as recommended by
the CDC. However, the use of a jet
nebulizer to administer aerosolized
albuterol in the index patient had probably
aggravated the spread of the disease by
droplet infections." |
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Eliminate
environmental contamination.
The Medicator+Plus® completely eliminates environmental
contamination during nebulizer therapy through its built-in
capability to effectively filter the
exhalation port to eliminate therapist exposure to patient-exhaled
aerosol particles. The system can use any nebulizer or any
respiratory filter of your choosing or you can pick from the
choices we offer. The simple-to-use system can be used for
adults and children, including infants. A Convenience Kit
adapter maintains high efficiency even with an extension tubing for
mouthpiece or mask.
Use
in the Emergency Department.
We recommend considering the
Medicator+Plus® for bronchodilator therapy in
the Emergency Department and other areas of the hospital or
clinic where respiratory patients may be treated for the
first time without knowledge of their history, or in
patients presenting with respiratory symptoms who have
recently traveled abroad. The use of this device will
provide a much greater margin of safety than conventional
unprotected aerosol therapy. While
there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that SARS is
spread by small volume nebulizer treatments, or that our
device or any other device will mitigate the transmission of
SARS virus, we propose our device because of the following
features/benefits:
Environmental contamination is eliminated through
the use of a patented manifold and
diaphragm/reservoir bag system and the capability to
effectively filter the exhalation port. |
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Reservoir bag captures and stores aerosol that is
generated during the patient's exhalation phase and
allows it to be inhaled during the subsequent
breath, thereby completely eliminating atmospheric
"dumping" of aerosol typical of most small
volume nebulizer systems |
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Patented system dramatically increases the efficiency of virtually any commercial
nebulizer. This device so vastly improves aerosol drug delivery
(by a factor of 2-3 times) that it essentially cuts breathing time in half or more by
retaining and using aerosolized medication that would have been
wasted with a standard nebulizer/tee system. This means that
treatments can be completed more
quickly. |
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The Medicator+Plus may also be an ideal aerosol drug
delivery system for nebulized antiviral therapy
should such agents become available because it
minimizes environmental contamination, costly drug waste and
dosing "guesswork," due to its reliable, repeatable
doses.
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Three variations
of the Medicator+Plus® (Cat. Nos. AM-602,
AM-602A, or AM-603) are described in the Products
section of this web site.
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