Maestro Reiki

In a dramatic press update on 27 August 2008, Sharp Corporation unveiled its latest technological weapon against bird flu! Incorporated in its ionic air purifier, the Plasmacluster Ion Technology (more on this in a later post) has just been scientifically proven to be 99.9% effective in eliminating the bird flu virus known as H5N1.

With increasing regularity, the press reminds us that bird flu is the prime suspect to cause mankind’s next pandemic. Pandemic sounds terrifying. It is. That’s when a deadly virus turns totally global, in a very negative sense. It boggles my mind that the 1918 Spanish Flu may have killed 50 million people on earth! World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on 5 October 2005 that the 1918 Spanish flu was caused by H1N1, a bird flu virus.

Do I have your attention now? Is it time to PANIC?

Not now. WHO statistics (updated up to 10 Sep 2008) tracing back to 1996 when the H5N1 virus first surfaced in China shows a relatively low death toll of 245. So what’s the fuss? Mutation of the bird flu virus to achieve human-to-human transmission capability is the ultimate horror of the scientific community. Currently, there has been only one probable case of human-to-human transmission recorded in Thailand in September 2004. But if the dreaded virus mutation takes place, you can expect pandemonium on a global scale.

Countries are conscientiously preparing for the worse (more on this in a later post). At our individual level, we should start doing some homework too.

Ok, so what has the Sharp ionic air purifier to do with all this. Isn’t it just another ionic air purifier? Yes, it’s ordinary in that it takes care of the usual stuff that we look for in an air purifier – dust, dirt, smoke, dander, pollen, cuisine and pet odours, pollutants, allergens etc. If there is really a tested defence shield against a deadly virus, why not? And that is precisely what Sharp is telling us; get the whole package with their Plasmacluster Ion Technology.

The next obvious question for the value-conscious, would be “yes, that makes a whole lot of sense but at what cost”? No extra cost, Sharp claims! They go so far as to say it may in fact be cheaper than any other ordinary ionic air purifier when measured over 5 years. Value for money grabs my attention anytime! How is it possible in this nothing-is-for-free world?

With the Plasmacluster Ionic Air Purifier Model FP-N40CX as the basis, Sharp contends that it is great value for money as there is no filter replacement costs for the first 5 years. At US$399, the Sharp model compares favourably against a typical competitor’s ionic air purifier that may cost US$160 upfront but over 5 years cost a total of US$560 due to annual filter replacement costs of US$100 each.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on both sets of numbers above. Just email me if you have actual numbers.

My next move would be to seriously investigate the Sharp Plasmacluster Ion Technology. The time to research is now, while bird flu is still not quite at pandemic proportions.

Its never too soon to get ready. Believe me, I have seen it. I remember my family, along with thousands of other frantic people, scrambling around town looking for the much-touted N95 face mask when the last near-pandemic scare took place in Asia. For the uninitiated, it was the year 2003. The SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus originated in Asia, infected 8,096 people around the world before finally resulting in 774 fatalities. Being well prepared is half the battle won.

Watch this space as we track exciting developments in our pursuit of safe, pure and clean air with nothing more than an ionic air purifier.

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Tags: air purifier, bird flu, ionic air purifier, plasmacluster