Increased effectiveness of UV pathogen eradication
Manual, automated and mass methods and devices, for enhancing the effect of UV light disinfection (at UV wavelength of 200 nm to 340 nm) of transmitted UV light on or in humans and devices by at least one of the steps of: a) increasing controllable output power of a UV emitting device, including using high power UV lasers or direct placement of UV light sources, b) increasing the efficiency of UV disinfection effect with the placement of the UV emitting device including by use of side emitting fibers with uniform output and distant placement directed at surgical sites, otoscope type handheld devices directing UV light into infected orifices, biofilm disruption, fluorescent marking of pathogens and c) providing protocols for various enhanced pathogen eradication applications including tissue clearing to increase depth of penetration, use of aspiration needles for access to pathogens, site disinfection to increase cancer remission and implant in situ disinfection.
1 . A method for enhancing the pathogenic eradication effect of UV light of a wavelength between 200 nm to 340 nm on a pathogen infected area within or on a human or animal, wherein pathogens are defined as being selected from bacteria, viruses, cancer, noxious cells, tissue, and micro-organisms and healthy cells, which may become toxic, the method comprising at least one of the steps of:
a. placing the UV light with directed transmission of the UV light onto a surgical site of the human or animal before, and optionally during and after a surgical procedure with sufficient power to maintain a substantially pathogen free environment during time of the surgical procedure;
b. directing transmitted UV light with sufficient power over a reasonable period of time through and onto a pathogen infected area adjacent an orifice within a human or animal to for deactivation of pathogens in infected the area;
c. rendering a cancer infected site within or on the human or animal increasingly susceptible to significant UV light penetration with cancer inactivation thereof; or isolating a cancer infected site from spreading by at least one of:
i. rendering the cancerous site more transmissive to UV light penetration;
ii. utilizing UV light pathogen eradication to form an inactiactivater cancer barrier between the cancer infected site and a non-cancer infected site; and
iii. rendering the cancer infected site more susceptible to the significant UV light penetration with the repeated steps of cancer deactivation of infected areas with UV light and removal of the cancer deactivated areas to expose additional cancer infected sites to the UV light,
d. bathing a cancer infected site with UV light after cancer cells have been removed from the infected site to increase extent of remission with recurrence of cancer infection; and
e. disinfecting outer surface areas of an implanted device in a human or animal in situ within the human or animal, with UV light, without removing the implanted device from the human or animal, by deploying UV light of sufficient power disinfection of pathogens, for a reasonable period of time, on outer surface areas of the implanted device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UV light source is a UV light emitting laser with relatively high UV light output power sufficient to provide pathogen deactivation power along substantially the entire length of a side emitting optical fiber optically aligned and attached to the output of the laser.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a hand-held device is configured to provide pathogen deactivating UV light from a distance from a pathogen infected site.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pathogen infected site is tissue which is cleared to render it more transmissive to UV light penetration.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein direct transmission or directed transmitted UV light is through a collimated lens which provides the sufficient power, over a reasonable period of time, to maintain the substantially pathogen free environment or to disinfect the area.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a pathogen infected site or area or a surgical site is bathed with a wavelength light which causes pathogens to fluoresce to provide a target for the UV light pathogen inactivation.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pathogens, which are inactivated, and cells, comprising the pathogen infected areas which are killed by the UV light, are removed by suction or washing.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein UV light is transmitted and carried into a human or animal through an optical fiber movably fitted within a hollow needle of a dimension capable of puncturing into a site within the human or animal with minimal harm.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the implanted device comprises a pacemaker and wherein the deployment of the UV light is in a pocket used for implantation of the pacemaker within the human or animal.