XMICROBE™ Offers Peace of Mind for Home Owner
August 16, 2010 by healthierprograms1
Filed under Success Stories
Every year during the flu season I would struggle to keep my family healthy. In 2004 I was attacked by the flu, I had a high fever, aches from head to toe, chills, nausea, headache, coughing and a throat so sore that permitted me from being able to swallow the smallest amount of water. Every following year during the flu season I would worry and pray that no one in my family would get sick especially me, because when mom is down the whole house suffers.
I met Mr. Gordon through a friend and he informed about a product that kills viruses and bacteria on contact and continues killing for up to 90 days. I was impressed with this information and decided to give it a try. On October 29, 2009, Mr. Gordon came to spray my home. I am happy to report it is now February 7, 2010, and we have all been very healthy and germ free. I believe in Xmicrobe™ and I will continue to get my home treated every 90 days. “IT IS WELL WORTH IT!” Thanks World Class Property Services for a healthier home.
Jennifer
Auburn, Ga
Few Correctly Cover Coughs and Sneezes
August 12, 2010 by Web Coordinator
Filed under Indoor Life News
Time.com -
Despite our best efforts to limit the spread of germs propelled into the air when we cough or sneeze, a new study from researchers in New Zealand suggests that many of us aren’t doing a great job. As the Associated Press reports, an observational study of people in public places in the New Zealand capital of Wellington suggests that roughly three quarters of people 
at least make an attempt to cover coughs and sneezes, but that, unfortunately most who do just launch the bacteria onto their hands — where they can spread it by touching surfaces and other people.
The research, which presented today at a conference on infectious diseases in Atlanta, was conducted last August in the middle of the swine flu outbreak and included nearly 400 public coughs and sneezes at a shopping mall, train station and hospital. At the time, there were several public health campaigns instructing people on the most effective way to cover coughs and sneezes to limit the spread of disease — by lifting your elbow up over your face (a gesture the AP notes some refer to as “the Dracula” because it resembles the vampire drawing up his cape). Yet, the study revealed that, even in the thick of the swine flu outbreak, only 1 in 77 did so.
Instead, the majority (two thirds) of people who at least made an effort to cover up just launched the bacteria onto their hands. As study author Nick Wilson, an associate professor of public health at Otago University in Wellington, told the AP:
“When you cough into your hands, you cover your hand in virus… Then you touch doorknobs, furniture and other things. And other people touch those and get viruses that way.”
Yet, though researchers were disappointed to see so few people using the proper technique to limit the spread of disease, perhaps the most dismaying observation from the study was the collection of citizens who used public places as personal spittoons. Though they didn’t include it in the data set, researchers noted seeing several people spit on the floor — not only in the mall or train station, but at the hospital as well. The researchers’ reaction to the disgusting displays? “They were a bit grossed out,” Wilson told the AP.
Before and After XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Treatment
July 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under How Does XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Work
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial treated surfaces provide advanced protection against harmful biological contaminants such as: E.coli, Chlorella vulgarus, Salmonella, and just about any other bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, dust and algae.
XMICROBE™
Long Lasting Germ Protection !
Dry Air Blamed For Flu Outbreaks
July 6, 2010 by Web Coordinator
Filed under Indoor Life News
MSNBC.com -
By Emily Sohn
It’s one of the hallmarks of winter: The misery of being stuck in bed with the flu. Now, scientists are finally figuring out why the virus hits hardest in the wintertime and why some winters are worse than others.
Blame dry air.
Extremely low humidity levels in winter, according to new research, fuel influenza outbreaks. Particularly dry spells make the problem worse. The discovery might help scientists prepare for epidemics and for the rash of secondary 
illnesses, like pneumonia, that often slam people once they’re already down.
“It is the first step toward potentially forecasting the risk of influenza outbreaks,” said Jeffrey Shaman, an atmospheric scientist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “By getting a handle on what’s going on with influenza, we are also getting a handle on the other diseases that really piggy back on influenza.”
To explain why flu and related illnesses strike far more often in the winter than at other times of year, theories have fallen into three categories. One idea is that people spend more time indoors in the winter and schools are in session, so there is more person-to-person contact.
Another theory is that, with less exposure to sunlight, people have lower levels of melatonin and vitamin D, weakening their immune systems and making them more likely to succumb to influenza viruses. Scientists have also hypothesized that temperature and humidity affect how long the virus can last after someone coughs or sneezes.
Previous research has shown that influenza viruses survive longer in air when temperatures are colder and relative humidity is lower. Relative humidity, which appears in many weather reports, describes how close conditions are to the point of forming fog or clouds.
But relative humidity isn’t the best measurement for studying flu outbreaks, Shaman said, because relative humidity varies with temperature. So, there is actually less moisture in the air on a rainy winter day in Seattle than there is on a sunny summer day in the same city.
He thought it would be more useful to look at absolute humidity, which measures exactly how much moisture is in the air, regardless of temperature.
On that scale, Shaman said, winters are usually twice as dry as summers in a place like San Diego and Arizona, four times drier in New York, and up to five times drier in a particularly cold state like Minnesota.
Along with colleagues, he analyzed 31 years of data from around the United States and used a computer model to show that influenza outbreaks were more likely to occur when absolute humidity levels were low. Like a sliding scale, progressively drier air led to progressively higher likelihood that an outbreak would occur, the researchers reported in the journal PLoS Biology. Temperature didn’t play much of a role.
“People had recognized that there was seasonality to this, but nobody has really come up with a unifying explanation,” said Gregory Poland, Director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minn. Humidity, he said, “is likely is part of that unifying explanation.”
Humidity is probably not the only explanation, however, and the weather forecast will probably never serve as a flu forecast. Even in dry conditions, the virus needs to be hanging around, and people need to come into contact to spread it. Still, any insight into what drives epidemics is a step toward saving lives.
When absolute humidity is low, for example, local hospitals could start stockpiling anti-viral medications and other supplies, and they could increase moisture levels in patient rooms.
Humidifying your home could help, too, but moist air alone is not the answer, Shaman said.
“The best defense against influenza remains vaccination. That can’t be stressed enough,” he said. “I would never suggest anyone forgo that to go out and buy a humidifier.”
XMICROBE™ Mode of Action
June 29, 2010 by admin
Filed under How Does XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Work
Click to play the Organosilane Mode of Action!
XMICROBE™
Long Lasting Germ Protection !
XMICROBE™ – A Greener Approach to Extended Sanitization
June 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under How Does XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Work
BioShield Services, LLC has developed a technology centered around XMICROBE™ a silicone quaternary ammonium salt microbiostatic agent which provides a durable, long acting, environmental friendly surface protection. While there are no “green” disinfectants, XMICROBE™ supports many of the twelve principles of green chemistry as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)1.
The following specifics relate to those principles which apply to the use of XMICROBE™ and are identified using the numbers and headings from the USEPA list:
Prevention:
XMICROBE™ is applied as a spray and generates no excess solutions which must be disposed of. Remaining solution is stable and may be stored for use in the next application.
Designing Safer Chemicals:
Upon application, XMICROBE™ bonds first to the surface and then to itself through its cohesive bonding properties forming a large co-polymer compound. The special bonding abilities of XMICROBE™ can be attributed to its multifunctional bonding receptors. Each bonding site, on the surfaces that are treated or the cell membrane’s receptor proteins, are easily adhered to because XMICROBE™ contains a variety of complimentary binding proteins. The multivariate bonding combinations make XMICROBE™ an excellent combatant for treating surfaces against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, molds, yeast, mildew, and algae. It is extremely effective in destroying Staph, MRSA, E. coli, Salmonella and Influenza A. Once bonded XMICROBE™ immediately begins its assault against microbes using long protein chains which are synthesized from highly reactive, positively charged “R” group amino acids. It is because of the charged “R” group that XMICROBE™ has the ability to bond to a wide diversity of negatively charged, infectious and potentially fast spreading micro organisms. Because the bonds formed between XMICROBE™ and the microbes are covalent bonds the strength of the bond has no dislodgeable residue leaching, off-gassing migration or diffusion of the molecule. Once the bond has been established the length and reactivity of the molecular proteins spikes work quickly and effectively in eliminating the micro organism threat. The methodology is mechanical in nature preventing any creation of resistant strains or toxic residues. Normal cleaning removes any dirt, residue or dead organisms allowing the efficacy of the polymer surface to continue.
Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries:
XMICROBE™ continues to hold its bond even after the annihilation of the micro organism which has a twofold benefit. One, since the covalent bond between XMICROBE™ and the unwanted organism is never compromised, the possibility of latent pieces of microbial DNA being taken up and integrated into a host cell’s genetic code is virtually impossible. Two, due to the positive-to-negative charged bonds, the reactive “R” groups of the proteins are rendered impotent eliminating the possibility of XMICROBE™ rendering to another surface.
Water is the only solvent used for dilution of the XMICROBE™ concentrate to the desired application strength.
Design for Degradation:
The resultant polymer surface is durable and tightly bonded to the surface to which it is applied. Any breakdown material is non-toxic and is removed by normal periodic cleaning. Due to the chemical structure of the ammonium salt the compound renders itself harmless by simple decomposition, leaving behind no harmful residue or lingering byproducts.
Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention:
The XMICROBE™ concentrate is classed as a pesticide by USEPA and normal precautionary handling is required. There are no carcinogens in the compound. It is non-flammable, stable under normal conditions and is not subject to hazardous polymerization. In the event of accidental spill, the solution can be deactivated by addition of an anionic surfactant or detergent.
The XMICROBE™ material when used by or according to a certified technician of the Healthier Environment Living Program™ (HELP) provides affordable, long lasting antimicrobial protection. This protection can by monitored and managed through ongoing Indoor Air and Surface Quality testing provided by HELP. View more information on www.HealthierPrograms.com or call 888-558-5254.
Erik J. Waters
Independent Microbiologist
December 2009
XMICROBE™
Long Lasting Germ Protection !
Poison (Chemicals) vs. Mechanical Elimination
June 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under How Does XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Work
Dangerous Poison Antimicrobials
Conventional products penetrate living cells and kill by way of poisoning or chemically altering the organism. They are designed to act quickly and dissipate quickly to avoid adverse effects to humans and animals due to their toxic ingredients. (The XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Does Not)
Most commercial antimicrobials used for treating building surfaces do a great job of getting a quick kill on bacteria and fungi, although most have a limited spectrum of effectiveness. (XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Has A Broad Spectrum Of Effectiveness)
Heavy metal based antimicrobials, such as silver ion may leach into the environment and lose their effectiveness over time. (The XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Is Water Based That Won’t harm The Environment)
Here’s The Big Difference…
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial takes a totally unique approach. It provides long-term control of growth on treated surfaces because the surface itself is modified to make it antimicrobial active.
The active ingredient in the XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial forms a colorless, odorless, positively charged polymer, which chemically bonds to the treated surface. You could think of it as a layer of electrically charged swords.
XMICROBE™ is a Safer Mechanical Microbial Reduction
When a microorganism comes in contact with the treated surface, the sword punctures the cell membrane and the electrical charge shocks the cell. Since nothing is transferred to the now dead cell, the anti-microbial doesn’t lose strength and the sword is ready for the next cell to contact it.
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial protection continuously fights the growth of microbes. Plus, the XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial protection makes the surfaces in your home easier to clean and keeps them cleaner and fresher between cleanings.
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial has undergone extensive independent laboratory testing and has a long 35 year history of safe use. It is registered with the EPA for all applications in which it is used.
XMICROBE™
Long Lasting Germ Protection !
A Look at XMICROBE™
June 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under How Does XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial Work
As you can see to the left, XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial works like a bed of nails to draw and impale microbes.
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial is an EPA Registered revolutionary product. XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial prevents the growth of an amazingly wide array of bacteria, mold, mildew, algae and yeast.
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial acts like a bed of microscopic spikes that pierce the cell walls of microbes.
XMICROBE™ Antimicrobial is a totally new approach to providing long lasting anti-microbial protection.
XMICROBE™
Long Lasting Germ Protection !
New Way Bacterium Spreads In Hospital
June 25, 2010 by Web Coordinator
Filed under Indoor Life News
New York Times -
By Nicholas Bakalar
Health care workers and patients have yet another source of hospital-acquired infection to worry about, British researchers are reporting.
Clostridium difficile, a germ that causes deadly intestinal infections in hospital patients, has long been thought to be 
spread only by contact with contaminated surfaces. But a new study finds that it can also travel through the air.
The researchers emphasized that there is no evidence that C. difficile can be contracted by inhaling the germs. Rather, they float on the air, landing in places where more people can touch them.
The bug is commonly spread by contact with infected feces, and the British scientists said the new study made it even more urgent to isolate hospital patients with diarrhea as soon as possible — even before tests confirm a C. difficile infection.
“We don’t want people to wait for the confirmation,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Mark H. Wilcox, a professor of medical microbiology at the University of Leeds. “By then, the cat’s out of the bag.”
Outbreaks of C. difficile, a bacterium resistant to many antibiotics, have been increasing in the United States since 2001, along with the evolution of more virulent strains.
People in good health are rarely infected. But broad-spectrum antibiotics can wipe out the bacteria that normally live in the intestines, allowing C. difficile to flourish. Hospitalized people on antibiotics and the elderly, even when not taking medicine, are at high risk.
Health care workers who touch contaminated feces can spread the disease by direct contact with other people or just by touching objects. The spores are resistant to disinfectants and can survive in open areas for months.
The bacterium produces toxins that can cause fever, nausea, abdominal pain, severe diarrhea — and sometimes colitis, a serious inflammation of the large intestine.
Treatment involves replacing the broad-spectrum antibiotics with other antibiotics, usually vancomycin or metronidazole.
The British researchers began with a six-month investigation of 50 patients, symptomatic and not, with confirmed
infection. The air near 12 percent of them was found to be contaminated with C. difficile. The more active their diarrheal symptoms, the more likely they were to have spores in the air around them.
Then the scientists repeatedly tested 10 patients with symptomatic illness over a 10-hour period, and the air near 7 was positive for c. difficile, usually during visiting hours or when there was activity in patient rooms like food delivery, ward rounds or bedding changes. Surfaces around 9 of the 10 patients were also contaminated.
The scientists believe that the movement of people and the opening and closing of doors stir up spores on contaminated surfaces, helping them disperse and increasing the possibility of them spreading.
The finding is unlikely to change current preventive practice, said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said that the study supported putting patients in a single room, “which is the norm here in the U.S.”
“There is a little bit of dispersion,” he added, “but the heavier contamination is still from direct contact.”
Dr. Wilcox agreed. “It’s important,” he said, “not to interpret the results as a justification for methods aimed at removing bacteria from the air, techniques that may be appropriate for highly immunocompromised patients, but not for those at risk for C. diff infection.”
The amounts of C. difficile found in the air were generally modest. There were no clouds of germs circulating in patients’ rooms. This may suggest a genuinely low level of airborne contamination, the researchers write, or it may be a result of methodological problems in collecting air samples: the initial location of the sampling devices, their design, or their movement to accommodate patient care or the arrival of visitors.
Dr. Wilcox said patients should protect themselves from C. difficile by the conscientious application of two substances that do not require a prescription: soap and water.
“For everyone in a hospital, staff or patients,” he said, “the chief thing is optimal hand hygiene.”
A Year After Its Emergence, H1N1 Swine Flu Lingers
June 24, 2010 by Web Coordinator
Filed under Indoor Life News
HealthDay News -
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
A year ago, global alarm over the emergence of an unpredictable new strain of H1N1 pandemic flu was in full swing. Headlines blared that thousands were becoming sick; face masks and hand sanitizers 
were selling out as soon as they hit store shelves.
So, where is H1N1?
On Thursday, Dr. Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, announced that the virus is still considered pandemic, meaning widespread, although case numbers have ebbed considerably.
Meanwhile in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that, as of May 22, just 1 percent of outpatient visits involved flu.
But, the new H1N1 flu — sometimes called swine flu — long ago pushed aside prior seasonal flu viruses to become the dominant strain. And experts believe it will settle into the regular fall/winter outbreak pattern that people are used to.
This type of major viral shift occurs every few decades with influenza, experts noted.
“What most people are expecting is that [the new H1N1 strain] will supplant the older H1N1 viruses that were the previous seasonal strains and become the seasonal H1N1 virus,” explained Dr. John J. Treanor, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. “The most likely
scenario would be that we would continue to see the descendants of pandemic H1N1 causing seasonal outbreaks of flu, with probably normal timing,” he said.
So H1N1 pandemic flu will — like prior dominant flu strains — probably mount a resurgence this fall and wane again in the spring of next year. That’s the polar opposite of how it first appeared on the scene in the spring of 2009.
Another expert agreed that H1N1 flu may seem to be gone right now, but should not be forgotten.
“I think there’s a perception that the virus has entirely disappeared because we’re not seeing [many] new cases but viruses don’t really go away. They go into hiding,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Often, he said, flu strains are “migrating somewhere where they re-assort [genetically] and reemerge in a different from.”
According to the World Health Organization, H1N1 flu is currently most active in areas of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, although cases remain relatively low, Agence France-Presse reported. WHO based its announcement Thursday on a report from a 15-member panel of experts. That committee will meet again in July when more data arrives on the progress of flu during the southern hemisphere’s winter season.
Since it first appeared, H1N1 — which had killed 12,000 Americans by the end of March, according to CDC estimates — has distinguished itself from the “regular” flu in several ways.
For one thing, it has tended to strike harder at children and younger adults than at the elderly, who were the most likely to succumb to previous seasonal flu strains. That could be because older people picked up some immunity in their youth from prior, related H1N1 outbreaks.
And pregnant women, especially, were endangered from the H1N1 strain. In a study published in April in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CDC researchers found that while pregnant women make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population at any given time, during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak they made up 5 percent of deaths.
Still, compared to prior seasons of “regular” flu, H1N1 actually caused milder disease and fewer deaths overall. (The conventional seasonal flu typically kills about 36,000 Americans every year.) That might remain the case in the near future, experts said, but changes to the H1N1 virus and those most affected could occur over time.
“As H1N1 becomes mature, I would expect that the relative number of hospitalizations between young adults and the elderly will start to change but that’ll mostly be because of decreased number of hospitalizations in young people rather than in increases in the elderly,” Treanor said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next flu seasons the impact on the elderly becomes relatively less.”
Less illness and fewer deaths among the elderly and overall are a good thing, but more mortality among the young means more years of life lost, Treanor pointed out.
One thing is certain — the H1N1 virus is easily passed from one person to another, having swept the globe last year at rapid speed.
“Transmission has been excellent,” said Dr. Scott Lillibridge, assistant dean of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health in Houston and executive director of the National Center for Emergency Medical Preparedness and Response.
Meanwhile, the 2010/2011 flu vaccine will definitely include the H1N1 strain, along with two other strains, Treanor said.
“Pandemic or no pandemic, H1N1 will still exist,” WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl told AFP. “If there is no pandemic it means that H1N1 is behaving like a seasonal influenza virus but it is still there. Therefore vaccination against H1N1 is still important, especially for pregnant women, the young and those weakened by other ailments.”
More information
There’s more on H1N1 influenza at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
SOURCES: John J. Treanor M.D., professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y.; Len Horovitz, M.D., pulmonary specialist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Scott Lillibridge, M.D., assistant dean, Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, Houston, and executive director, National Center for Emergency Medical Preparedness and Response; Agence France-Presse
Last Updated: June 04, 2010
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