'Germ-Zapping Robots' to hunt down pathogens at Phoenix VA hospital

• Six robotic pathogen-killers were purchased for use at the Phoenix VA hospital
• The Phoenix VA is the first to use the new technology
• The Arizona hospital paid $71,000 apiece for the robots

A camouflaged robot entered the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix Wednesday morning and went on a killing spree with death rays.

The clunky automaton, which resembles R2-D2 of "Star Wars," pulsed like a manic photo-flash as it slayed dangerous pathogens with pulsating ultra-violet light.

As a VA news release noted, "It kills all the dangerous bacteria the naked eye can't see."

This, folks, is the newest weapon in Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center's arsenal against microscopic enemies that cause hospital-acquired diseases.

The Phoenix VA facility is the first medical center in Arizona to employ the machine, known more formally as the Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot.

During Wednesday's demonstration, Kenneth Carter, environmental management service chief for the Phoenix VA Health Care System, said the hospital has acquired six of the robots and will use them to sanitize patient rooms, surgical areas, labs, lavatories and other places where infectious bacteria may lurk.

"We're ecstatic because it's going to help us provide a clean and safe environment for our veterans," Carter said. "This is the best of the best."

The bot on display was christened "Chief," and its five siblings also got monikers: Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard.

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Chief (short for commander-in-chief) stands about 3 feet tall and wears a gray camouflage design. For demonstration purposes, it was rolled into an empty patient room and allowed to zap away with high-intensity UV bursts that kill microbes within a 7-foot radius.

Rob Harris, senior director for government and strategic accounts at Xenex, joked about terrified germs, noting, "It's a silent scream. ... What the light sees, the light kills."

Harris said the pulsing light carries 500 to 2,000 times the intensity of sunshine, and basically blows up or boils invisible organisms that may have developed resistance to antibiotics or cleaning solutions. The targets includes MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), norovirus, influenza and VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci).

Hospital-acquired infections are a major medical concern, and a VA measurement system indicates the Phoenix hospital has trouble combating the problem. Its MRSA rate this year exceeds the 90th percentile among veterans' hospitals.

Xenex says eight independent studies have verified Germ-Zapping Robot's effectiveness. The new technology is now in use at 350 hospitals and other medical facilities nationwide.

The American Journal of Infection Control says about 4 percent of inpatients acquire an infection while hospitalized. It reported on one study showing ultra-violent treatment can reduce infection rates by more than 50 percent for MRSA, and for a highly resistant spore known as Clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal illness.

Ultra-violet light beamed by mercury-based bulbs has long been used as a pathogen killer. Phoenix had two of those devices.

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The new robot models by Xenex went on the market in January. Harris said the retail price is upward of $100,000 per device, but the Arizona hospital paid $71,000 each based on a government discount, a bulk purchase and a buy-back of mercury-based machines.

Gene-Zapping Robots can sanitize a one-patient room in about 10 minutes. The treatment occurs after cleaning by housekeepers. Thorough hand-washing remains critical to avoiding the spread of hospital pathogens.

Harris said about 350 U.S. medical centers now use the Xenex product.

"Physicians love this technology," he added. "Germs are getting smarter and smarter — adapting to the environment — and they've become more and more difficult to kill."