ViroMax Bacterial-Viral Filter
We have been receiving a large number of inquiries from not only hospitals and clinics but also from emergency medical services, including private and public medical transport services and first responders, that are looking for a layer of protection while transporting patients and administering emergency care.
The ViroMax is an in-line filter designed for use with ventilators, breathing circuits, and tubing and accessories that are designed with universally interchangeable connectors. An international standard, ISO 5356-1, governs those connectors and ensures that a breathing circuit fits into the ventilator and that an anesthesia facemask fits that breathing circuit.
The ViroMax filter was designed to that standard in order to fit such breathing circuits, various connectors in those circuits, facemasks, as well as ventilators.
ViroMax Connector Dimensions
On one side (the bottom connector in the image), the ViroMax BVF port measures:
- 22 mm ID and 25 mm OD
On the other side (the top connector in the image), the port measures:
- 22 mm OD and 15 mm ID
The smaller connector (in the upper-right in the photo) would fit anesthesia facemasks with a standard 22 mm ID port.
And a breathing circuit tube, most of which terminate with a 22 mm OD connector on the patient side, would fit into the 22 mm ID connector (in the bottom-left of the picture).
More technical information is available on our website.
Applications for ViroMax Bacterial-Viral Filter
In addition to ventilators and breathing circuits, the ViroMax filter’s universal fit makes its application versatile. According to clinicians and first responders in the field, the ViroMax has been used in the following applications:
- Endotracheal tubes
- Exhalation valve on manual resuscitators
- Exhalation tube off the T piece on nebulizers
- CPR masks
- Portable ventilators
- CPAP tubing
- One or two ViroMax filters on a facemask as a PPE
Despite the shortage of viral-bacterial filters worldwide, A-M Systems has been able to donate dozens of cases of ViroMax filters to emergency medical services in Washington state. Here are some of the images of how the ViroMax is being used in the field.
How the ViroMax Filter Was Tested
For the viral filtration efficiency, the ViroMax filters were tested at the Nelson Laboratories using ΦX 174, a bacteriophage with 5,386 nucleotides and one that’s tiny at about 27 nm (0.027 µm).
The virion was nebulized then aerosolized to mimic respiratory droplets with a mean size of 2.8 µm. Generally, aerosolized respiratory droplets are smaller than 5 µm.
The bacterial filtration efficiency was tested with S. aureus using an analogous method and a mean particle size of 3.0 µm.
The ViroMax achieved over 99.999% bacterial filtration efficiency and over 99.99% viral filtration efficiency.
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