Clean up the flu

Florida's flu infections have spiked sharply each week this year and Tayfun “Sonny” Taylor thinks he knows why.

A native of Germany who now lives in Southwest Florida, Taylor says Americans get it wrong in how they sanitize places like hotel rooms, airline cabins, buses and hospitals. Taylors' remedy? The Saniswiss Automate aHP.

A wheeled-device about the size of a canister vacuum cleaner, it sprays a container of hydrogen-peroxide boosted sanitizer in a room. Geneva-based Saniswiss makes the device.

Taylor is the U.S. distributor for the device and its airborne sanitizers, which he touts as a more thorough, effective and less pricey alternative to other commercial sanitizers sold nationally. “There are similar machines on the market but cost 10 times what our machines cost,” says Taylor, who has an office and warehouse in Cape Coral.

Boosting hydrogen peroxide is a key to effective bio-sanitizing. But, claims Taylor, competitors use toxic ingredients to boost hydrogen peroxide in a solution he says can also harm electrical devices. “That's the reason the hospitals around the country don't use it,” Taylor tells Coffee Talk, emphasizing the Saniswiss booster uses less than 6% hydrogen peroxide.

The device works simply: The machine is put in a room, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide-boosted solution is inserted, a space size is selected and a button is pushed. The space is filled after five minutes and can return to use in 30 minutes, Taylor says.

Cost is $1 to $2 a room, says Taylor, though an entire ER would cost $3. “You can save $100,000 a year in staff time,” says Taylor. “Our machine can work 15 to 20 hours a day.”

The devices are already sold in Europe, China and the Arab Emirates, and will make a U.S. debut July 17-19 at Orlando's Florida International Medical Expo. Taylor, currently recruiting agents and brokers, plans to target hospitals nationwide, starting with facilities in Florida. Says Taylor: “We expect to sell 5,000 units this year.”