Swedish Microbiologist Shares Advice For Protecting Healthcare Workers Against COVID-19

Swedish Microbiologist Shares Advice For Protecting Healthcare Workers Against COVID-19
We caught up with Sweden’s leading microbiologist Peter Landvall, PhD and owner of Cellwell, to get his advice for healthcare workers navigating COVID-19 and discuss challenges ahead in the post-pandemic era.
What will be the biggest challenge for the medical industry in a post-pandemic era?
“The pandemic has shown a lot of weakness within healthcare, which is a golden opportunity for companies to develop more innovative and practical products and solutions that increase the safety for patients and hospital staff.”
Few sectors in the world are developing as fast as medtech this year, what do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for 2021?
“We are seeing development of products based on new software innovations and AI, and the possibility to expose and gather data to read and use in an innovative way. The challenge from my perspective is educating people to work with these products in the right way.”
What are your thoughts on Sweden’s approach to navigating the covid-19 pandemic?
“As a microbiologist, my opinion is that the Swedish healthcare authorities have given very practical and useful recommendations, which can decrease the possibility of catching the virus. Based on scientific work and results about the spreading of the virus, keeping distance is the best way to avoid the infection. If we follow these very simple recommendations, the risk for infection is very low.”
What is your advice for healthcare workers protecting themselves against the virus?
“When healthcare workers cannot maintain distance, they should use the recommended equipment, being PPE (personal protective equipment). The pandemic has resulted in many new and innovative PPE which increases the safety of healthcare personnel.”
TorTex is an innovative new smart textile developed in Sweden, what advantage do you see for providing healthcare workers with this new advanced PPE technology?
“The most special advantage I see with HealthTextiles’ TorTex fabric is that we can see the fabric decrease the chance of virus and bacteria living in contact with the fabric. Research results have proven that the fabric provides over 90% protection, with less than 10% of virus and bacteria able to penetrate the fabric.
“The base for the TorTex fabric is hemp, a plant that is easy to grow in many places across the world. It is easy to grow in large quantities and is a cheap alternative for cloth manufacturers. The hemp fabrics are also easy-to-use and have a character that fulfils a lot of different usage areas, because of the fabric’s strength, moldability and microorganism protection.”
Where do you see the future of healthcare in 2021 and beyond?
“Healthcare today is based on using a lot of different medicinal products. By definition, any medicinal product the patient gets is a poison. Of course, the poison effect is less, or far less, than the positive effect, but still, it is important to remember this.
“When the wider community has this knowledge, we will start to see a need for exchangeable medical devices, or other products, that can replace medicinal drugs. We can already start to see a growth in combination of medicinal drugs with other products, showing that we are moving to a world that might exclude the medicinal product part of treatment totally.
“I can imagine that the future will give us a lot more medical devices, combination products and smart PPE, used in hospital healthcare, but also by the general community at home. We will also start to see more patients monitored by professional healthcare personnel remotely, or at a distance, ensuring a two-sided safe environment.”
What is your innovation mantra?
“Curiosity with common sense towards practical goals.”
About HealthTextiles
HealthTextiles is a leading Swedish manufacturer with a mission to save lives and decrease costs for the healthcare sector by developing innovative new healthcare uniforms and textiles. Offering unique anti-bacterial uniforms with Swedish quality and design, their uniforms can be found in hospitals, health clinics and care homes across Europe, with the company set to expand globally in 2021. HealthTextiles is supported by EIT Health.
Interviews may be coordinated upon request. Copies of the certification documents, scientific studies, research, photographs, and graphics are available.
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