LEADING CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
July 7, 1996
The BioGuard 1000 (Air Supply) Personal Air Purifier and its Effect on Airborne Bacteria.
Preliminary Report
By Richard Eric Madrid, Alan M.Spire, M.D. and Imie Schroeder, Ph, D.
Abstract: Respiratory illnesses from airborne contaminants are a common feature of daily life: much effort and energy have been applied in devising Systems, such as air filters, to limit such infections. There is a new device the AirSupply, which is a portable air purification system that has had much subjective success with improving breathing and limiting pulmonary infections. To scientifically evaluate whether this device truly has any effect we have devised a laboratory system to aerosolize E cold and tested the AirSupply against the airborne bacteria. We found a significant reduction in bacterial growth with the device aimed at the bacterial-laden air stream as compared to controls This provides objective evidence that BioGuard 1000 (Air Supply) may indeed offer protection from airborne bacteria: determining the degree of protection and the method of microbial neutralization in conjunction with performing extensive controls are considerations for further evaluation and future experiments.
Introduction: Diseases arising from airborne bacterial and viral pathogens and allergens such as house dust or plant produced pollen etc. are common problems that humans encounter throughout the world. Inhaled airborne particles can adversely one's health particularly immunocompromised individuals or those suffering from allergies. In addition, in certain environments in which air is constantly recirculated as in commercial airplanes, virulent organisms produced by infected individuals can easily spread throughout the enclosed environment. Since an individual is often at the mercy of the local environment it would be a great benefit to purify the air that is inhaled by any given individual. The BioGuard 1000 (Air Supply) Personal Air Purifier aims to effectively eliminate particles such as bacteria, viruses, and allergens from the air. The air purifier which is compact and lightweight is worn around the neck by individuals to prevent the inhalation of such potentially harmful particles.