Disclosed herein are embodiments of an invention relating to pathogen transfer mitigation and prevention apparatuses. Described herein are embodiments comprising one or more charged particle emitters, collectors, power circuits, and controllers. The invention described herein can effectively, for example, prevent, stop, and/or minimize the transfer of pathogens such as, for example, viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and/or worms. The invention described herein has application in many fields, including, for example, the agriculture, restaurant, food, livestock, pet, sports, entertainment, travel, and/or transportation industries. The invention described herein is of particular relevance given the recent and ongoing international coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic.

System and method to reduce risk of patient infections (HAI), using operating rooms (chambers) equipped with suitable automatic airborne sterilizing agent generators, sensors, mechanisms, automatic air control devices, and laminar flow devices. After suitable safety checks, the system isolates the interior air from external air, and activates an air phase anti-microbial agent generator, filling the room with an air-phase anti-microbial agent. After sterilization, the invention deactivates the generator then restores the connection to outside sterilized air. The chamber also comprises an intelligent platform comprising video cameras, and computer vision systems configured to identify humans and medical supplies, read optical tags, and correlate recognized objects with RFID tag data. The intelligent platform can be configured to automatically detect and warn on conditions associated with a high risk of HAI, optimize the sterility of the chamber, automatically detect other operating room issues, and interface with outside computerized medical databases and facilities networks.

A shielding structure of an object sterilized by radiation. The object is a housing that accommodates an accommodated object therein and is formed of a shielding material that shields the radiation and secondary radiation that has a higher transparency than the radiation and is secondarily generated by the radiation, an exterior of the housing is sterilized by the radiation, and the radiation and the secondary radiation do not penetrate through the accommodated object.

An item of furniture, such as a bench, cabinet, desk, chest or sideboard, having an appearance suitable to be located near the door of a home, contains integrated within it a disinfection chamber suitable for disinfecting home-delivery packages. The disinfection chamber may use disinfecting light or ozonated air or both.

A medical probe sterilizer includes a main body having a sterilizing chamber configured to accommodate a medical probe to be sterilized therein and configured to be opened and closed, a probe holder installed on the main body and configured to hold the medical probe to be located inside the sterilizing chamber, a UV sterilization unit configured to sterilize the medical probe in the sterilizing chamber by using UV light, a plasma sterilization processing unit configured to sterilize the medical probe in the sterilizing chamber by using plasma, and a sealer configured to prevent leakage of the plasma to the outside of the sterilizing chamber.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for decontaminating surfaces from human coronaviruses, such as SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and structures for decontamination from human coronaviruses. A structure for decontamination includes a first surface and a decontamination layer on the first surface. The decontamination layer comprises a nanostructured photocatalyst. Human coronaviruses on the decontamination layer are exposed to UV radiation and/or visible light. After the exposure, the human coronaviruses on the decontamination layer are inactivated. In some embodiments, the decontamination layer can include additives and/or an electrical bias can be applied to further reduce the exposure time required for viral inactivation.

A method for reducing viable microbial burden on a surface. The method includes placing an item into a system chamber. The method includes a conditioning phase where ozone is generated by an ozone generator and a fan circulates the ozone in a closed loop between the ozone generator and the system chamber. The method then includes a disinfection phase where a pump pumps disinfectant to a nebulizer where it is converted into a disinfectant vapor. A fan is then activated to circulate the vapor in a closed loop between the nebulizer and the system chamber. After the disinfecting phase, the method activates a post-disinfection conditioning phase where an ozone generator generates ozone that is circulated by a fan in a closed loop between the ozone generator, the nebulizer and the system chamber. Lastly, the method activates a system clearing phase, where air flow is pulled into the system through an inlet and exhausted out of the system through an outlet.

Apparatus for decontaminating ambient air in an indoor environment is disclosed. The indoor environment may be any partially or fully enclosed space designed for human occupancy such as a room within a building or structure or an interior of a vehicle. The apparatus comprises an inlet configured to receive contaminated ambient air from the indoor environment, an outlet configured to supply decontaminated air to the indoor environment, and one or more decontamination modules connected between the inlet and the outlet, each of said one or more decontamination modules being configured to remove contaminants from air passing through said decontamination module. In some embodiments the apparatus comprises an air recirculation mechanism for recirculating air back through the one or more decontamination modules, and a controller configured to control the air recirculation mechanism to recirculate a volume of air within the apparatus such that said air passes through the one or more decontamination modules a plurality of times, and to subsequently release said air into the indoor environment via the outlet as the decontaminated air. By recirculating air within the apparatus in this way, the overall effectiveness of the decontamination process can be increased.

Methods and systems for sterilizing medical devices including, but not limited to, a pre-filled syringe. A method for sterilizing a pre-filled syringe may comprise placing the pre-filled syringe in a sterilization chamber and performing a plurality of pulsed sterilization steps. Each pulsed sterilization step may comprise drying the sterilization chamber, humidifying the sterilization chamber, evacuating the sterilization chamber to a target pressure, introducing a quantity of NO2 to the sterilization chamber from a buffer tank that is selectively fluidly linked to the sterilization chamber, passing a predetermined quantity of air through the buffer tank and into the sterilization chamber to aid in rinsing NO2 from the buffer tank into the sterilization chamber, and after the quantity of air is passed through the buffer tank, holding the sterilization chamber for a dwell period at a dwell pressure.

The present invention relates to a non-contact microplasma ozonized mist radical sterilizer. The present invention minimizes two discharge spaces to a micro size to lower a breakdown voltage, concentrates electromagnetic fields using micro-patterns to induce micro-discharge at a normal pressure, and generates plasma through glow discharge, to increase electron density and reduce power consumption according to generation of microplasma. When oxygen and air are injected as reaction gases using this principle, ozone is generated as active species, and the generated ozone is used for various purposes such as removing pests, reducing ethylene, and sterilizing harmful bacteria. Sterilization is improved by sterilizing air and generating mist using ozone generated from microplasma, and then decomposition and drying of ozone gas are performed using a heat generation device and a catalytic method.