As a patient waits for a diagnosis in an isolation room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, other people are being protected from any pathogen that may escape.
The student, who is not seriously ill, recently returned from Wuhan, China, the center of an outbreak of coronavirus, which has killed more than 100 people in China. The quarantine is a precaution.
A company in Lenexa manufactures and delivers equipment that can help keep extremely contagious patients from spreading dangerous bacteria or viruses. Hepacart Infection Control Technologies makes products that filter contaminants from the air.
"We manufacture an emergency anteroom setup that goes outside of a patient door," said Mark Farnsworth, company president.
The anteroom is a large metal frame with its own door and powerful HEPA filtration unit. Multiple units can be delivered and installed quickly when doctors determine there is an extreme danger, like a scenario in which a hospital is dealing with 50 measles patients.
"You've got to figure out some way to keep measles from spreading all over the hospital and the anteroom is one of those ways you can do that," Farnsworth.
For bacteria, viruses or mold spores smaller than 0.3 microns, the anteroom uses a powerful UV light to zap the bugs."Basically it's creating an excited light laser that physically destroys the pathogen as it passes by," Farnsworth.
The company has seen exponential growth over the past decade, with sales increasing from about $1 million per year to $10 million.
The coronavirus is increasing the public's awareness of contagious diseases, but Farnsworth says we already had plenty to worry about. Influenza has already killed more than 8,200 people this season in the U.S., more than double the number reported at this time last year. In recent years doctors have dealt with increased cases of the measles, a disease that was once considered virtually erradicated.
"Measles is going to be a huge problem in this county if they don't figure it out, base upon what's occurring and how easily transmissable that is," Farnsworth.
Hepacart also makes equipment to filter air for construction dust, another common source of secondary infections in hospitals.