[ad_1]
In a laboratory in Gothenburg, scientist and molecular biologist Josefin Caous loads a syringe with hospital bacteria. Through the control panel, she pushes the bacterial droplets through a long tube and allows them to be pushed through various floors in a metal tower. Screwed between two planes in the cylinder is a mouth guard that has not been tested before. Does it penetrate the bacteria, or can it serve as protection for covid-19 in Swedish healthcare?
At the beginning of the year, after all, there was a European Union that had removed trade barriers between Member States and shared the quality assurance of all possible products. For example, mouth protection for the entire Union was tested only in Belgium.
We all know what happened next.
When the pandemic shocked the continent the borders were closed and large amounts of protective materials were detained for export by nations that wanted to seize themselves. The quality assurance system was out of the question.
In Sweden, the state research institute RISE was commissioned to develop a fast track for evaluating defective products and to establish its own tests in areas where they had not worked before. Josefin with the mouthpiece is part of the team working on the new tests.
The yellow dots on the test glass show how much the mouth guard of the bacterial syringe allows.
Photo: Tomás Ohlsson
Another is a group of RISE employees in Borås who are allowed to conduct water wars in the laboratory to test protective clothing.
– When it comes to costumes, you have a body stocking underneath that leads to leaks. The simplest and quickest is that there is a real person inside, says unit chief Konrad Tarka with a small laugh.
Your business it is one of those that changed rapidly as a result of the pandemic. Previously, they mainly tested the resistance of metals, in two weeks they have developed tests for plastics and textiles. It is thrown away and used in disposable aprons and other protective clothing. Some elements have disappeared to speed up the process.
– In normal cases, the materials are “conditioned”, as we say, well tested in the environment for a little longer. But it is not necessary when it comes to disposable products. The tests now take around two days, says Konrad Tarka.
Customer pressure. It is large. You have recently appointed one person to answer questions only.
– It’s high blood pressure, but it’s also when you work best.
Dag Sjöholm, research and business developer at RISE, shares the sentiment.
– I have worked for 22 years in various roles here and have never done anything more important than what I do now. That’s it. I’m incredibly impressed by the staff, but even though we’ve halved times in many places, I’m not happy about that. For example, we have a little respiratory protection left.
What is difficult there?
– Nothing, we just don’t have it. It has been so full of trying the masks that we have not failed, says Dag Sjöholm.
With the camera he follows a colleague from the communications department, the work of researcher Josefin Caou in oral protection tests in Gothenburg. In a link to the Stockholm government office, Industry Minister Ibrahim Baylan (S) witnesses the yellow sorrel being loaded with bacteria for a new test. A beep sounds when Josefin opens the door of the newly built device.
– It took my colleagues a couple of weeks of hard work to build this advanced equipment. Now that we are in operation, the entire procedure takes approximately a week, with crops, evaluation and documentation, he tells the minister.
A new test kit has been built to test mouth protection at RISE in Gothenburg.
Photo: Tomás Ohlsson
until April 7 Josefin Caous worked on several different projects, all on infection prevention and treatment. Among other things, a large clinical study in Sahlgrenska Orthopedics that investigates how to reduce the risk of infection in relation to implant surgery. Suddenly, the hallways were closed due to the pandemic and Josefin had to take the oral protection tests.
– I am very happy to have this now, so Swedish companies do not have to be referred to a laboratory in Belgium. Thanks for breaking the tubes, says business minister Ibrahim Baylan during his virtual visit to RISE.
Business Minister Ibrahim Baylan (S)
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / TT
Several of the nearly 3,000 employees at the state research institute have received new assignments for fast-track personnel for protective equipment. The government’s stated mission is for manufacturers and importers to care for their products in a short period of time, without compromising safety.
This is the fast track
In order for medical care and other socially important bodies to receive personal protective equipment quickly during the covid-19 pandemic, the Swedish Work Environment Authority, on behalf of the Government, has established a faster assessment process – the fast track.
Products approved with this will not be CE marked and cannot be delivered after December 31, 2020. Products may also not be sold in the other market.
At the moment, manufacturers and importers can test visors, respirators, gloves, aprons and other clothing on the fast track.
– It is a direct effect of what we think was an open internal market, the EU, which suddenly came together and imposed restrictions. So you can’t just complain, it’s important to roll up your sleeves here, says Ibrahim Baylan.
Is it fast enough?
– I think Sweden has had its best side in these past months, but it is clear that when the process is so fast, with the disease, the borders closed, the deliveries cut … then you want even more to happen.
Do you see any risk that RISE will harm your safety and gas too much, because that’s the order?
– Yes, it is not only order, but reality. But my opinion is that everyone is trying to make sure that the material is maintained.
Dag Sjöholm, who is one of the people in the development of RISE, has pondered the risk of being seen as a bottleneck and may be tempted to emphasize the changes.
– But I think the attention is incredibly professional. They take care of their staff and prefer to see that it becomes real and safe, that fast and bad. Manufacturers and importers may be more stressed, but we’ve been doing fine so far anyway, he says.
Molecular biologist and scientist Josefin Caous at the RISE State Research Institute
Photo: Tomás Ohlsson
When Josefin Caous creates The bacterial droplets (aerosols) of the fluid in the yellow test tube are the closed test tubes and the workbench with submersible protective glass. When the filter effect has been tested, you should also shake the mouth guard in a liquid that removes any contaminants that the product has brought in from manufacturing or shipping. With that, your two tests are done. It remains for colleagues with other knowledge to test whether they resist splashing and to check that they are allergic.
Exactly how many masks and mouth guards are now tested during the crisis, Dag Sjöholm has no figures, but despite the fact that there are examples of protection that turned out to be “pure steering wheel and reverence”, in the words of the developer, most do it well,
– In normal cases, we get a product, so we test it. With the fast track, we mainly choose to test the products that we can see immediately that have the best conditions. So, in the tests we do, we have a better result than we would have otherwise.
