COLUMBUS, Ohio — March 28, 2020 — Battelle announced today that it has begun rapid manufacturing of a system to decontaminate N95 respirator masks and other medical protective equipment.

Each Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System™ (CCDS™) is capable of decontaminating up to 80,000 masks per day at full capacity. Because it is scalable, the system is capable of processing even more pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) each day. Battelle CCDS uses concentrated, vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VPHP) and works by exposing used respirator masks to the validated concentration level for 2.5 hours to decontaminate biological contaminates, including SARS-CoV-2.

Battelle has a fully operational system at its West Jefferson, Ohio facility that has processed test batches of previously worn PPE received from Central Ohio hospitals. Battelle is working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to begin processing previously worn PPE for reuse in a clinical setting.

This past week, Battelle started building systems at one of its manufacturing operations in Columbus for shipment to sites around the country. The first completed system is in transit and will be placed at an undisclosed location in the New York metropolitan area to address that city’s critical shortage of PPE needed by healthcare workers and first responders.

“The Battelle team mobilized to begin acquiring parts and developing manufacturing processes to deploy systems to help those on the frontline who need essential protective equipment,” said Matt Vaughan, Battelle’s contract research president. “We are building the next units and are in discussions with health officials across the country to determine where to best place them.”

For decades, Battelle has served the military in protecting troops from chemical and biological hazards. The company operates Biosafety Level 2 and 3 labs where research is performed on live viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Battelle also has a full medical device development team that works with the FDA on a regular basis.

Battelle CCDS is based on research that Battelle performed for the FDA in 2015 (Richter et al., 2016) to assess the feasibility to decontaminate N95 respirator masks in the event of a PPE shortage resulting from a pandemic. In that FDA study VPHP decontamination, using the same system parameters and critical end points as the current system, was shown to result in 6-log reduction of G. stearothermophilus while not degrading the filter performance of N95 respirators for multiple decontamination cycles. Battelle is currently conducting research to validate that other equipment, including surgical masks and ventilator components, can be decontaminated using this process.

Once the EUA is in place, Healthcare systems that are enrolled in the Battelle CCDS program will collect worn respirator masks daily in accordance with an approved procedure and courier them to one of the active Battelle CCDS locations. The PPE will be labeled with a barcoded serial number for tracking the chain-of-custody throughout the process. This ensures that a hospital system receives its own masks back. Each respirator mask will be marked with the number of times that mask has been processed.

Posted March 31, 2020

Source: Batelle

GREENSBORO, N.C. — March 31, 2020 — Burlington® Barrier Fabrics, a division of Burlington Industries LLC, and part of Elevate Textiles, has increased production of its Maxima® Medical Barrier collection in response to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Burlington Barrier Fabrics is committed to engineering and producing state-of-the-art healthcare fabrics.

For over 40 years, Burlington has been in the Medical business manufacturing fabrics for use in operating theaters such as surgeon’s gowns, isolation gowns, sterilization wrapper packs, drapes, scrubs and lab coats. Burlington is a world leader providing superior protective products to the health care market. Our Maxima products are highly protective, extremely comfortable, and offer maximum durability.

The Maxima collection of fabrics is the standard in the industry for reusable isolation and surgical gowns creating less impact on the environment. A global collection, Maxima® is sold in Europe and the United States, meeting EN 13795, The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (A.A.M.I) for Levels 1-4 and FDA Standards. This line of reusable, fluid resistant surgical fabrics is engineered for top of the line performance and safety.

“Our commitment to the protection of our first responders and healthcare professionals is our top priority during this global crisis,” said Allen Smith, president of Burlington, Safety Components & A&E Americas. “We have increased production of our Maxima Medical Barrier fabrics and are partnering with organizations across the industry to supply those on the front lines with the personal protective equipment needed to keep them safe amidst this outbreak. We appreciate the commitment and dedication of our workforce in Burlington plants in the USA and China to supply these fabrics to support the global fight against COVID-19.”

Nelson Bebo, vice president of sales, added: “Our traditional apparel supply chain is shifting to realign manufacturing capabilities to help meet the critical demands of our medical professionals on the front lines. We have reallocated resources to support the evolving industry landscape and provide Maxima products to key retail, brand and governmental partners.”

For inquiries into sourcing Burlington’s medical barrier products, please complete the contact form at burlingtonfabrics.com and a sales representative will respond.

Posted March 31, 2020

Source: Burlington Industries

BATON ROUGE, La. — March 30, 2020 — LSU Biomedical Engineering senior Meagan Moore is never one to back down from a challenge, especially if it means helping others — she created a cancer model to help personalize treatment last year. So, why would the coronavirus pandemic be any different?

Working alongside LSU Medical Physics and Health Physics Director Wayne Newhauser, emergency room physician Tom Fox, two LSU physics students, and members of the community, Moore is once again helping those in need by creating face masks, ventilators, and face shields for nurses and doctors working with COVID-19 patients at LSU Health in New Orleans.

Before Moore got the call to help create a ventilator prototype less than a week ago, she and her mother Kathryn Moore were knee deep in looking at patterns and sewing face masks for the nurses and doctors in New Orleans who are treating patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Moore and Kathryn, who has two degrees in the fashion and textile merchandise field, followed a mask pattern they found online that was designed by a hospital chain. They, along with other experienced seamstresses, found the pattern difficult to follow, so they improvised.

Their mask consists of two layers of tightly woven cotton sewn together with elastic bands that go over the ears. Once elastic became hard to come by, Kathryn got creative and used elastic bands from old Mardi Gras ball masks.

“Ideally, the mask is going over an N-95 mask to provide additional protection so the N-95 can continue being used,” Moore said. “Our masks can be sterilized appropriately at the hospitals because most people aren’t going to use or don’t have the level of disinfectant needed at their house.”

So far, Kathryn has sewn more than 130 masks, with each one taking 30 to 45 minutes to sew.

“My mom has been very meticulous with the details,” Moore said, to ensure they are effective and comfortable. Each mask is individually packaged and were delivered to Ochsner Hospital in Kenner on Saturday.

In the midst of her mask endeavor, Moore received a call from Newhauser asking if she could help him create a ventilator part for COVID-19 patients in New Orleans. Seeing the dire need for more ventilators should the number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase, Moore said yes without hesitation.

Moore and Newhauser, who is also a professor in LSU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, are working directly with local respiratory specialists, medical physicists, and engineers to fabricate ventilator parts and a variety of personal protective equipment for healthcare personnel in Louisiana.

“We’re doing a lot of telecommunicating with doctors,” Moore said. “We’re currently doing 3D prints with base stock because the hospitals have gotten to the point where they are desperate and we’re trying to push things through. Certain companies have done copper printing but it’s extremely slow and expensive. Our 3D-printer material is PLA (polylactic acid) but we could possibly move up to another type of material.”

An LSU resident emergency room physician picked up prototype ventilator pieces from the LSU team on Saturday for inspection and evaluation.  LSU Physics student Maxwell Cole and LSU Renewable Natural Resources alumna Cathlin Disotell are assisting Newhauser and Moore; all are working in Newhauser’s garage while practicing social distancing.

“We’ve contacted multiple filter companies to ask questions like, ‘Where can we get this filter right now?,’” Moore said, “and realize, ‘Oh, it’s made in China.’ One thing I read is that one single country cannot produce a ventilator on its own. All of the different parts come from different countries. That was eye-opening. We’re seeing a stopgap like never before. You don’t have time to do full-on testing and hit it with everything a lab could do.”

While the team is working on prototyping ventilator parts, it is also prototyping field-expedient face shields with help from LSU Chemical Engineering Research Specialist Nick Lombardo.

“I was using a laser cutter to make an acrylic template for people to make their own face shield using cardboard that would go on their head and a clear plastic document protector to staple onto it to protect against initial droplet exposure,” Moore said.

A local surgeon, Dr. John Faust of Baton Rouge Orthopedic Clinic and Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, is assisting the team in prototyping protective gowns, which are in short supply.  The LSU COVID-19 response team is exploring production and other business logistics, including collaboration with local industry and possible public private partnerships.

“Our goal for today is to figure out how to make gowns of reasonable quality from materials and tools that are readily available,” Newhauser said. “Soon, we will hand off to other teams to scale up training of workers and production of the gown.”

Additionally, the team is coordinating with LSU personnel on the COVID response to explore scaling of the instruction and materials to create a community effort.

Though the team has not yet been asked to create a ventilator splitter, which would allow more than one patient to use a ventilator at the same time, Moore has unsurprisingly started creating one because, “it seems like that’s the direction things are going to go,” she said.

Though being under quarantine may cause many people boredom and stress, Moore seizes every free moment of it to make a difference.

“I really don’t get exhausted from doing this kind of stuff,” she said. “It can wear a lot of people down. I like helping people and this is unlike any other scale of being able to help, other than [Hurricane] Katrina, which was the most horrible thing I can think of. I’m happy to show up and throw whatever I have at it. We have a lot of brilliant people on our project and we’re really fortunate to have the opportunity to help others.”

“In the war on COVID-19, our modern-day equivalent of Rosie the Riveter is ‘Meagan the Maker,’” Newhauser said. “She exemplifies the spirit and engagement of LSU’s students.”

Newhauser also noted the outstanding support and leadership of the LSU administration in deploying its arsenal of academic resources to help healthcare workers.

Posted March 30, 2020

Source:  LSU College of Engineering