Science & Technology

Dr. Greenfield discussing UV-C technology (video)
Allergic disorders are a common chronic illness. Allergy symptoms can cause changes in the respiratory tract that can effect the way we breath for many years to come. Perennial or long term chronic allergies stem from fungus, mold, mildew, bacteria, viruses, and especially dust mites in our homes. Carpets are a prime location for these allergens and bacteria to multiply. Traditional vacuum cleaners disperse these allergens rather than killing them. For the first time, Halo has harnessed the power of UV-C technology has been used in hospitals to disinfect surfaces for years, now that technology is available to you through the Halo Ultra Violet, so you have the power.

Dr. Needham discussing dust mite research (video)
Entomologist Dr. Glen Needham has been studying dust mites at the Ohio State University for over 15 years. Dust mites can cause symptoms ranging from a runny nose to a fatal asthma attack. One square yard of carpet can contain over 100,000 dust mites. Dust mites are the number one cause of indoor allergens. One dust mite's fecal pellet is like a bomb full of allergens. The Halo Ultra Violet vacuum removes dust mite debris and kills the dust mites with a fatal exposure to UV-C light.

Details of how UV-C light works
Halo Ultraviolet vacuums safely harness the power of UV-C technology to destroy dust mites, bacteria, viruses, and more living and breeding in your carpet.

Video Script (Dr. Russ Greenfield):
Allergies. You likely know somebody who has them. In fact, it would be unusual if you didn’t. Allergic disorders are now the sixth most common chronic illness in America and unfortunately the incidence is increasing. Even more worrisome – it’s affecting more and more children. Now, you might say what’s the big deal? The symptoms of allergies are cough, runny nose, itchy eyes – not a big deal, right? Potentially, a very big deal because when these symptoms occur over and over and over again or even worse when they occur chronically, changes occur in the respiratory track that can affect the way we breath for many many many years to come.

Now, you likely know about seasonal allergies. That’s when we get exposed to things that cause symptoms from the outdoors, but what about when we have things in our very own home that bring on these symptoms – what we call perennial allergies or long-term chronic allergies. The types of things that cause the symptoms are fungus, mold, mildew and especially dust mites. Now these things can be found all throughout the house but especially in our carpets, which can be very very dirty even though they appear very very clean.

Now, how might we take care of this? Remember as a physician my primary role is to prevent illness, so we want to prevent exposure to these same things. Some folks might wrap their beds or wraps their pillows in plastic. They might tear up their carpeting. They use all forms of chemicals. They might try using traditional vacuum cleaners, but all that does is disperse these things that cause the symptoms of allergies. It doesn’t really get rid of them. So, what are we to do? There haven‘t been very good options - until now.

I’d like to introduce you to the concept of UV-C – ultraviolet light in the spectrum of C. This is a technology that has been available in hospitals and used there for many many years. And why? Because it’s affective at disinfecting different surfaces – even killing organisms that might cause illness in human beings.

And what would it be like if that same technology were available to us in our own homes – especially for problem areas like carpeting where we know many of these germs that cause the symptoms of allergies live. Will now that technology is available to you through the Halo Ultraviolet Vacuum.

Video Script (Dr. Glen Needham):
I’m Glen Needham. I’m an Entomologist. I’ve been on the faculty at Ohio State for about 30 years. Fifteen of those years I’ve been working on house dust mites, trying to find new and novel ways to manage these pests in homes because they can cause symptoms ranging from a runny nose to even a fatal asthma attack.

(SUPER: one square yard of carpet can contain 100,000 dust mites)

Just a few dust mites inoculated into a home over a short period of time can result in a roaring population of dust mites in carpet, in mattresses or any fabric.

(SUPER: dust mites are the #1 cause of indoor allergens)

(Dr. Needham explains video of dust mites)
So, all this stuff that’s on here stuck to the back of the mites and on the fabric here are fecal pellets and each one of those is just like a bomb full of allergens.

(SUPER: traditional vacuum cannot effectively kill dust mites where they live)

Over the past two years I’ve been working with the Halo Ultraviolet unit. What I see is two things. One is that the unit removes dust mite debris and the mites themselves, but in addition to that, it has another component that other vacuums don’t have. It has a UV source that when the carpet is exposed, mites that remain behind may receive a fatal exposure. So, you are removing the debris, but you’re also killing the source of the allergen, and so over a period of time a use of this product one can imagine that the exposure in that home is going to be lessened by continued use of the product.

To view this site, you will need to download the latest Flash player... Click here to download »