Ebola Killing Robot That Destroys The Virus In Minutes Is Now In Us Hospitals

A germ-killing robot designed to rid a room of dangerous viruses in minutes is being used to keep hospitals Ebola-free. Called 'Little Moe', the robot works by damaging viral DNA using pulses of ultraviolet light.

It is currently being used in 250 hospitals and health facilities across the US, including a Dallas hospital where a patient with the first case of Ebola diagnosed in America is being treated. The robot rolls around on four wheels and uses xenon, a non-toxic gas, to create the ultraviolet rays needed to destroy viruses.

It blasts 1.5 pulses per second up to ten feet (three metres) in every direction to kill viruses including Ebola.

Light that is 25,000 times bright than sunlight is created in each flash. The robot was first made available in 2010 and each unit costs £65,000 ($104,000).

'Our robot ensures the room is safe for the next patient by destroying germs on high-touch surfaces, and in hard to clean nooks and crannies,' a spokesperson for Xenex said.

Ebola, however, is actually easier to kill than other infectious diseases such as superbugs that mutate
and become immune to disinfection.

It takes just two minutes for the robot to destroy Ebola on a surface, while other viruses can be eradicated in five minutes.

Such technology, using UV rays to sterilize a room, has been around for decades, but Little Moe speeds up the process by using xenon in place of mercury.

By comparison, a mercury-based UV machine takes up to an hour to disinfect a room.
'Our mission has always been to eliminate the pathogens that cause the infections that impact the health and lives of millions of patients and their families, and Ebola is no different,' Xenex said in a statement.