WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Quick-Med Technologies, Inc. announces that it will present its NIMBUS technology as a potential solution for preventing hospital infections at a Congressional Technology Briefing to be hosted by the Unites States House of Representatives' 21st Century Health Care Caucus. David S. Lerner, president of Quick-Med Technologies, and Christopher D. Batich, PhD, QMT's expert consultant and professor of biomedical engineering and material science at the University of Florida at Gainesville, will be present at the meeting which will be hosted by Congressmen Tim Murphy (PA-18) and Patrick J. Kennedy (RI-1), co-chairs of the Health Care Caucus. The presentation will also address healthcare setting applications and possible clinical trials to be conducted at HighlandsHospital, based in Connellsville, Pa.
In addition to Quick-Med Technologies, other attendees will include Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Samuel Hammerman, MD, director of the Pulmonary Clinic at Highland Hospital and Medical Director at Select Specialty Hospital in Greensburg, Pa; and senior representatives of Highland Hospital, including CEO Michelle P. Cunningham and Melissa Topper, RN, infection control and education coordinator. The session will take place on June 7, 2006.
The NIMBUS technology employs a powerful microbicidal agent that can be permanently bonded to materials such as cotton, rayon or polyurethane to create advanced wound dressings, fabrics or other medical products. The company has recently announced the finding that NIMBUS is highly effective against key strains of bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics commonly used to treat infections, including MRSA and VRE, two antibiotic-resistant organisms that cause hospital and nursing home infections.(1)
In 1999, MRSA accounted for more than 50 percent of all Staphylococcus aureus infections within U.S. intensive care units (ICUs). This proportion increased to more than 60 percent in 2003. VRE rates have continued to increase and now account for more than 25 percent of ICU enterococci infections, according to the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system. Mortality rates for VRE bacteremia and sepsis have been reported to exceed 30 percent.(2)
According to the Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council ("PHC4") report dated July 2005, Pennsylvania hospitals had 11,668 confirmed hospital-acquired infections in 2004. Further, according to this report, the hospital admissions in which these infections occurred were associated with 1,793 deaths, and an estimated 205,000 extra hospital days and $2 billion in additional hospital charges. These numbers are out of a total of 1.5 million discharges from 173 general acute care hospitals.(3)
References:
1. Quick-Med Technologies, Inc. and the University of Florida Collaborate to Develop The Next Generation of NIMBUS Antimicrobial Technology; Sept. 13, 2005 press release.
2. North Dakota Department of Health, May/June 2004 Epidemiology Report.
3. PHC4 Research Brief, Issue No. 5 July 2005: Hospital-Acquired Infections in Pennsylvania.
Source: Quick-Med Technologies, Inc.
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