SARS causes massive rise in sales of medical containment bed

(31 May 2003) 1. Men lifting up medical containment bed 2. Close up of a man inside containment bed 3. Close up of the meter showing the voltage 4. Tracking shot of a man inside the bed 5. Top shot of the factory 6. Mid shot of engineers checking beds 7. A man demonstrating the function of the bed 8. Close up of his face 9. Close up of the air flowing in 10. Man explaining the filter function 11. Tracking shot of the bed 12. Engineers making the final check of the bed 13. Zoom back from the face of a man to wide of the capsule slid on STORYLINE: Sales of medical containment beds, produced by a small Japanese factory in southern Tokyo, have gone through the roof since the outbreak of the SARS virus across Asia. The specially developed beds isolate patients with highly contagious diseases, such as SARS, in order to prevent the spread of the illness. The so-called ’transit isolater’ uses a pressure adjusting system to limit a patients contact with the outer environment by up to 99.7 percent. The system decompresses the air which is then filtered through a specially modified box underneath the bed in order to remove any deadly bacteria. According to the factory, Isotech Corporation, the bed is probably the only portable isolation bed being manufactured in the world and enables SARS patients to be transported with minimal risk to those travelling with them. The company, which employs only 65 people, never expected the deluge of orders they have received for the “transit isolater“ when they launched the bed three years ago. Only a couple of orders had been placed for the medical containment beds before the SARS outbreak. Now they have sold 35 beds and the orders keep coming in. But this modern technology doesn’t come cheap with one bed costing 5.2 (m) million Japanese Yen (44,000 US dollars). Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: