Disinfecting robots being set up to cleanse room.
Hospitals and clinics have a new tool to combat the spread of drug-resistant superbugs from patient to patient.
Robot-like devices that spray a mist of hydrogen peroxide are effectively killing these pathogens, according to a report by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
The procedure works by sealing rooms of former sick patients and spraying a nearly invisible layer of the inexpensive compound on all surfaces.
A neutralizing agent is then sprayed to convert the hydrogen peroxide into its harmless water and oxygen components.
In the report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers say the new disinfecting method reduced by 64 percent the number of patients who later became infected with any of the most common drug-resistant organisms.
Photo: Johns Hopkins University Hospital