Ozone: An Advancing Technology
By Paul Overbeck

The year 2007 began with a prediction of increasing global interest in—and demand for—ozone amongst established and emerging markets. This interest was driven by concerns for protection of public health. The year-end results show that ozone—one element of a group of processes recently referred to as an “advanced technology” by some and a “green technology” by others—is receiving strong acceptance in many industries. The following summarizes the International Ozone Association’s (IOA) educational activities and process applications.

Health Care: Commercial Laundries

National and local news media have been working overtime since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in the October 2007 Journal of the American Medical Association that in 2005, 94,000 people contracted serious or invasive staph infections, and 19,000 of them died—rates three times the previous estimates.

Both staph and a drug-resistant, harder-to-treat strain known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can cause serious skin infections, pneumonia or infections of the bloodstream, ear, urinary tract or the lining of the brain. MRSA had nearly always been connected to health care facilities, hospitals and nursing homes, but now about 15% of MRSA cases in the U.S. are spreading into public facilities, such as schools, athletic facilities, health clubs and hospitality industries, according to the CDC report.