|
Answer --
Actually, no. The reservoir bag does not get
contaminated because it is isolated from the patient's
exhalation by the flapper. And, unlike most other small
volume nebulizers, the nebulizer is also isolated from the
patient's exhalation. However,
even if the reservoir bag did become contaminated, it would
not transfer the contamination to either the nebulizer or the
patient. How
do we know this? We studied it in our on-site aerosol
lab using a readily detectable radioactive tracer to simulate
bacterial contamination of the reservoir bag. In
a nutshell, when we deliberately contaminated the inside of a
clean reservoir bag with 3 ml of radiolabeled albuterol
(99mTc), we were unable, in 6 experiments, to recover any
radioactivity in either the nebulizer or a HEPA filter at the
patient airway opening after up to 20 minutes of
breathing. You can read the entire study in the "White
Papers" section of our web site. |
