History
1633: Smallpox was brought to America from Europe aboard the Mayflower in 1633 upon settlement of Plymouth Rock.
1878: Arthur Henry Downes and Thomas Porter Blunt published a paper describing the sterilization of bacteria exposed to short wavelength light.
1903: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1903 was awarded to Niels Ryberg Finsen “in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science”.
1910: Using UV light for drinking water disinfection started in Marseille, France.
Disease
1969: HIV was first brought to America by an infected immigrant.
1988: VRE is first identified in the United States.
Technology
2007: Whole room UV disinfection first introduced to US hospitals.
2014: Westchester Medical Center, in Valhalla, New York, implemented UV disinfection technology and studied the results. “In our study, overall decreases in MDRO plus C. diff infections were led by a decrease in VRE infections, which is our most common hospital-acquired MDRO. The rates experienced during ultraviolet disinfection are the lowest incidence rates of VRE at our institution for the past 10 years and were sustained for 22 months.”
UV Sanitized
2015: UV Sanitized opens their doors, bringing the new standard of clean to the midwest.