Medizone International, Inc. (Dually Traded: OTCBB/OTCQB: MZEI)
(http://medizoneint.com)

It is anticipated that AsepticSure™ will be extremely cost effective, adaptable to virtually any situation anywhere and have a global reach.

The AsepticSure™ hospital sterilization system is a portable, affordable, easily operated system that can be used by trained maintenance staff. It is placed in the center of the room to be cleaned. Vents and doors are then sealed with an easily and cleanly removable 3M-tape product.

The AsepticSure™ equipment is turned on from outside of the room through a remote wireless computer interface. The room is filled with a unique and patented gas formula that is ozone (O3) based to specific humidity and charge strength. Following the charge period the sterilization process is remotely turned off and a separate technology is employed that restores the atmosphere inside the room to EPA standards.

The entire process, start to finish, takes 80 to 90 minutes at which time the room will have been cleared of pathogens to the 6 log sterilization standard. The room is opened and the equipment is then ready to move on to the next space to be treated, leaving the treated room sterile of pathogens with a fresh, oxygen (O2) freshness.

Commercial Viability of AsepticSure™ Hospital Sterilization System

From a commercial viewpoint, the higher the “kill rate” in the shortest turn around time, the more favorably physicians and hospital administrators will view the system. Accordingly, Medizone now believes that the performance profile of its AsepticSure™ Sterilization System will exceed all the prerequisite requirements of affordability, practicability and unmatched efficacy, which will catapult it into the world market.

AsepticSure™ Mock Trials

The mock trials are now producing the same results in terms of sterilization that were first achieved in the small laboratory unit.

March 15, 2010 - The AsepticSure™ system is capable of decontamination to the previously unobtainable 6 log standard on all hospital surfaces, hard or soft.

The AsepticSure™ hospital sterilization system has completed the first and second full round of room scale trials eliminating all pathogens across the ‘Super Bug’ spectrum on stainless steel surfaces, porcelain, formica and many common fabrics at a reliable 6 log (99.9999%) kill or greater.

Of commercial significance in a hospital setting is the fact that the AsepticSure™ system is now able to greatly reduce the time required to achieve 6 log kills on hard surfaces to 30 minutes of exposure. With the charge time and destruct time for reuse of the space factored in, that translates to a room turn around time of 80 minutes, a 40 minute saving in total turn around time from the original target of 2 hours.

Fabric exposure requires an additional 15 minutes to achieve the same 6 log kill rate, which represents a full turn around for a thorough cleaning of about 95 minutes for all surface materials.

Given the sum of our results, it now appears that a typical protocol might have a hospital perform a first cleaning of 95 minutes to fully sterilize the space, which would be followed by cleanings, perhaps as infrequently as one time per week for lower risk settings, requiring only 80 minutes to complete.

Not only is AsepticSure™ continuing to demonstrate its superlative antimicrobial efficacy, it is increasingly becoming apparent that it will be viewed as a practical necessity easily managed by trained hospital maintenance staff without putting rooms out of service for unacceptable periods of time.

March 8, 2010 – The successful completion of the first full round of room scale testing with AsepticSure™ sterilization system indicated all pathogens of cause with HAIs were completely eliminated at concentrations well above 6 log. These results have confirmed the laboratory findings reported earlier this year, but what is of even greater significance are the insights gained into the technical modifications necessary to accommodate the unique requirements of decontaminating within a hospital environment.

Work will continue on the room scale testing program in order to expand understanding of factors that will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of AsepticSure™, particularly when dealing with contaminated textiles in time sensitive hospital spaces.

To meet the unique challenges of hospital acquired infections, Medizone has assembled an international team of professional engineers who are finalizing design of our first pre-manufacturing prototype to be used in hospital beta testing, which will commence later this spring.

Medizone will build four highly instrumented prototype units for use in its hospital program, thereby enabling precise performance assessment of all AsepticSure™ systems as concurrent outcome measures, which will form the basis for final production design work, manufacturing and ultimately commercialization later this year.

Medizone International, Inc. announced today that it has successfully completed the first full round of room scale testing with its AsepticSure™ sterilization system. “Across the board”, commented Dr Michael Shannon, “all pathogens of cause with HAIs were completely eliminated from stainless steel surfaces at concentrations well above 6 log. These results have confirmed the laboratory findings reported earlier this year, but what is of even greater significance are the insights gained into the technical modifications necessary to accommodate the unique requirements of decontaminating within a hospital environment.”

Work will continue on the room scale testing program in order to expand our understanding of factors that will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of AsepticSure™, particularly when dealing with contaminated textiles in time sensitive hospital spaces.

February 4, 2010: AsepticSure™ Hospital Sterilization System demonstrates total eradication of Super Bugs. Every full scale test run completed in the hospital room mock up facility has resulted in the total elimination of all bacteria present in the room.

In this phase of development, Medizone’s scientific team will attempt to confirm, in a more realistic hospital setting, recent laboratory findings indicating extremely high antibacterial efficacy for its novel technology (6-7.2 log reductions) against the primary causative agents of hospital acquired infections (HAIs), sometimes referred to as “Super Bugs”.

MZEI has now completed multiple runs with very high concentrations of MRSA, VRE and E coli samples that were distributed throughout the test room. In every instance, the AsepticSure™ system produced greater than 6 log (99.9999%) reductions, which by definition, is sterilization. It is noteworthy in this regard that there was absolutely no growth on any of the artificially contaminated surfaces exposed to the AsepticSure™ process.

The intention now is to systematically collect empirically verifiable scientific data on all the remaining causative agents of HAIs. Given these recent results in a full room test setting which precisely mirrors the laboratory set up, the same results are expected with all remaining bacteria as well as Bacillus subtilis, the recognized surrogate for Anthrax.
While more testing and data acquisition must be completed before moving into hospital beta testing, it now seems certain that AsepticSure™ will deliver as promised.

A concern has been the protection of the expensive electronics found throughout hospitals. The electronic testing program will now be intensified to assure false assumptions and not made.

Third Round Trials

January 5. 2010: Third Round of Laboratory Testing Complete
Third Round Testsing: Medizone International, Inc. third round of testing and data logging for the enhanced AsepticSure™ technology is now complete. Test results achieved over the past two months now predictably demonstrate greater than 6 logs of bacterial “kill” across the full spectrum of hospital contaminants including MRSA, C difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and VRE in addition to the internationally accepted surrogate for Anthrax, Bacillus subtilis.

Significantly, these results have been replicated on more than a single surface material. “This latest round of laboratory testing has confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that our enhanced AsepticSure™ technology can reliably achieve sterilization standards for virtually any bacterial contaminant found in a hospital setting,” stated Dr. Michael Shannon, Medizone’s Director of Medical Affairs.

Medizone’s full scale prototype unit has been completed and demonstrated in “dry” runs (bacteria free) that it can reach both the charge time and saturation requirements of its design criteria. The ability to replicate the exact atmosphere of the laboratory test unit in a full sized room is considered a crucial step in achieving the same 6 log bactericidal action in hospital settings.

December 1. 2009: Testing Breaks “6 Log” Decontamination Barriers
Medizone International, Inc. announced that in tests involving proprietary AsepticSure™ technology, it continues to break “6 log” decontamination barriers, this time with two very different spore forming bacteria, Clostridium difficile and Bacillus subtilis. These results clearly establish AsepticSure™ as an extremely potent sporicidal technology.

“The implications of a 6.7 log reduction (99.99997 %) in C. difficile are indeed significant for the entire health care system,” stated Dr Michael Shannon, Director of Medical Affairs for Medizone. “However, even though our findings for Bacillus subtilis are preliminary, the potential of being able to eliminate 99.999992% (7.2 log kill) of an internationally accepted surrogate for Anthrax in 90 minutes will have national security implications.”

Medizone believes that a field hardened variant of the AsepticSure™ hospital unit currently being readied for scale up testing will have wide bio defense applications internationally as it will be easily deployable in response to virtually any terrorist assault, extremely effective against a broad range of lethal pathogens, easy to manage and maintain and most importantly, it has the potential to save lives.

Medizone Reliably and Predictably Able to Break Through 6 Log Barrier with MRSA
Medizone International, Inc. (MZEI.OB) announces an ability to achieve a level of bacterial decontamination heretofore unseen in open space settings using conventional means.

Dr Michael E. Shannon, Director of Medical Affairs, Medizone International stated, “our research team has pressed hard over the last few months to systematically evaluate various decontamination options involving numerous technological approaches in combination, and to our surprise, we have managed reliably and predictably to break through the 6 log barrier with MRSA. This unexpected development will significantly expand the utility for AsepticSure™, since by definition, any bacterial reduction beyond 6 logs (99.9999%) is considered STERILIZATION.

This unique combination of technologies and protocols will now be tested on C difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, and VRE with the expectation that AsepticSure™ will achieve the same degree of incremental improvement over the 4 to 5 log reductions we have already demonstrated with those pathogens in earlier trials.”

Medizone International is preparing a second patent filing to cover these developments while construction and instrumentation of an expanded laboratory setting at the company’s Innovation Park, Queens University laboratory continues in preparation for full room scale-up testing of its equipment to commence in December.

Second Round Trials

Results from the second series of trials demonstrated a 5 log reduction (99.999%) in Pseudomonas Aeruginousa and a 4.4 log reduction (99.994%) in Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus (MRSA).

Commercial Viability of AsepticSure™ Hospital Sterilization System
From a commercial viewpoint, the higher the “kill rate” in the shortest turn around time, the more favorably physicians and hospital administrators will view the system. Accordingly, Medizone now believes that the performance profile of its AsepticSure™ Sterilization System will exceed all the prerequisite requirements of affordability, practicability and unmatched efficacy, which will catapult it into the world market.

______________________

Medizone International, Inc., is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ technology to decontaminate and sterilize hospital surgical suites, emergency rooms, intensive care units, schools and other critical infrastructure.

Investor Relations: 415-868-0300
E-mail: operations @ medizoneint.com

Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Medizone International, Inc.
Post Office Box 742
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
Telephone: 415-868-0300
Fax: 415-868-2344

This release contains certain forward looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of ongoing clinical studies, economic conditions, product and technology development, production efficiencies, product demand, competitive products, competitive environment, successful testing and government regulatory issues. Additional risks are identified in the company’s filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Medizone International, Inc. (OTCBB and OTCQB: MZEI) (http://medizoneint.com)

I want to take a closer look at the impact of the new Healthcare Law in terms upon hospital acquired infections — and why Medizone International’s successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater on hospital surfaces represents solution for Hospital Administrators in terms of revenue.

Consumers Union, a nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports, analyzed the patient safety initiatives in the health reform law. Health reform law addresses issues associated with Medicare patients. Because Medicare patients represent half of all hospital patients hospitals will be paying attention.

Medicare policies tend to dictate a hospital’s practice for all patients. Private insurers and other public health programs change their policies to follow Medicare.

Medicare’s Hospital Compare Web site will publish individual hospital errors rates for about a dozen avoidable conditions for Medicare Patients including hospital acquired infections. This is the same list of conditions that Medicare stopped paying for in 2008.

Medicare payments to hospitals hospitals will be adjusted based on patient outcome.

Hospitals with better outcomes for pneumonia and preventing infections will benefit from higher payments.

Hospitals with high rates of hospital-acquired infections receive reduced payments.

For example, when Medicare stopped paying for catheter-related urinary tract infections — forcing the hospital to bear the cost on their own — many hospitals implemented system-wide practices to prevent infections. Techniques included better tracking of patients with catheters and automatic messages to remind doctors to remove catheters because the longer the device is in place, the greater the chance for infection.

Dr. James Conway, a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, said the law raises the bar for quality.

Beginning in 2012, hospitals that meet or exceed performance standards in conditions including stroke care, heart attack outcomes and infections will receive higher Medicare payments.

New Healthcare Law:

Penalizes hospitals with high error rates: In 2014, Medicare will cut pay by 1 percent to hospitals with the highest rates of medical harm.

Requires public reporting of medical injuries: In 2014, the Medicare web site Hospital Compare will post each hospital’s record for certain medical errors and hospital-acquired infections.

Insurers to demand better care: By 2012, insurers must have contracts with medical providers that include actions to reduce readmission, improve safety and use best practices.

Emphasizes effective practices: The law creates a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute run by a private foundation that will find the most effective drugs, medical devices and procedures.

Establishes a patient safety center: The Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety will research and disseminate information about improving the quality and safety of health care, with an initial focus on preventing infections and reducing re-admissions.

Requires reporting of gifts given to doctors: In 2013, device and drug manufacturers must begin reporting details about gifts and payments over $10 to doctors and teaching hospitals. The information will be published on a searchable Web site.

Improves quality measures: The law allocates $75 million annually toward improving the measures used to evaluate quality and safety.

• C.difficile
• E coli
• Pseudomonas aeruginous
• MRSA
• VRE
• Bacillius subtilis

• Hospitals
• Sports training facilities
• Schools
• Critical infrastructure

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National Healthcare Quality Report

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality which is a department of the United States Health and Human Services reported on April 14, 2010, regarding hospital-acquired infections noting they contribute to an estimated 100,000 deaths a year.

• Agency Press Release and Overview of Report

• National Healthcare Quality Report – April 14, 2010
  

According to the report:

• Rates of bloodstream infections following surgery increased by 8 percent.
• Urinary infections from the use of a catheter following surgery increased by 3.6 percent.
• The overall incidence for a series of common infections due to medical care increased by 1.6 percent.
• There was no change in the number of bloodstream infections due to central venous catheters — tubes placed in the neck, chest or groin to administer medications, drain fluids or collect blood samples.
• Rates of pneumonia following surgery dropped by 12 percent, the one bright spot.

The report concluded that hospital-acquired infections merited ”urgent attention.”

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, called the trend troubling but said the new health care law would ”help turn these numbers around.” Under the law, hospitals with high rates of infections will be penalized by the government starting in the 2015 fiscal year.

Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Medizone International, Inc.
Post Office Box 742
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
Telephone: 415-868-0300
Fax: 415-868-2344

This release contains certain forward looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of ongoing clinical studies, economic conditions, product and technology development, production efficiencies, product demand, competitive products, competitive environment, successful testing and government regulatory issues. Additional risks are identified in the company’s filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Medizone International, Inc. (OTCBB and OTCQB: MZEI) (http://medizoneint.com)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and HHS expressed their concerns over the lack of information about the number and causes of HAIs related to single-use devices in 2008. A GAO report published in September 2008, found that HAIs, which are among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S, can result from bacteria or viruses that might be introduced to a patient through contact with a medical device in a healthcare setting (D&DL, Oct. 6).

As infection control in MRI practices becomes more of a problem, manufacturers and imaging centers could be held jointly responsible.

Concerns are being raised that the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA is in part a consequence of outdated imaging pads and nonexistent cleaning procedures, according to Peter Rothschild, medical director of High Field & Open MRI and president of Patient Comfort Systems.

“It’s important that the imaging community and manufacturers take precautions now before this does become a big issue. It is pretty obvious that this issue has the potential of becoming a huge problem.”

Rothschild recently sent out a public alert about the possible risks of MRSA infections during medical imaging studies. He suggested manufacturers update their equipment by redesigning table pads so they are more state-of-the-art.

Table pads used on MRIs often are torn and frayed, leading to contamination. Some pads are poorly made, and MRSA can penetrate frayed fabric covers that appear intact. “These pads should have been replaced years ago but continue to be used every day,” Rothschild adds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 1.7 million people in the U.S. contract a hospital-acquired infection (HAI) each year, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths.

Rothschild said until the imaging community and MRI centers take MRSA seriously, more patients will contract the infection following an MRI. “It is only a matter of time before attorneys begin to subpoena MRI centers to obtain the pads for inspection and culturing,” he said.

Utilization of diagnostic imaging tests in the U.S. has increased in recent years, but a decrease in MRI reimbursement has forced imaging centers to rush patients through so they can scan more patients per day, leaving little time for cleaning (D&DL, Nov. 17).

“Infection control has such a low priority in MRI centers that in the hundreds of MRI suites I have visited, I have rarely, if ever, seen a technologist clean the room and pads or even routinely wash their hands between patients, much less have a written infection control procedure,” Rothschild says in a statement.

Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Medizone International, Inc.
Post Office Box 742
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
Telephone: 415-868-0300
Fax: 415-868-2344

This release contains certain forward looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of ongoing clinical studies, economic conditions, product and technology development, production efficiencies, product demand, competitive products, competitive environment, successful testing and government regulatory issues. Additional risks are identified in the company’s filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Medizone International, Inc. (OTCBB and OTCQB: MZEI) (http://medizoneint.com)

Hospital Acquired Infections are subject to scrutiny internationally and the cause is gaining steam weekly.  Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Duke University Hospital Acquired Infection Study

First MRSA Study JAMA Published October 2007

The first nationwide study of the bacterium, MRSA, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, conducted in 2005, showed a surprisingly high number of MRSA infections, which are a type of staph infection. This type of infection was found to be three times more prevalent than previously believed.

What is MRSA?

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staph is a common bacterium, present on the skin or in the noses of about 20 percent to 30 percent of the population. It’s usually nothing to worry about. MRSA is a strain of staph that has become resistant to treatment with antibiotics, including penicillin, amoxicillin, oxacillin, methicillin and others. That makes MRSA harder to treat than regular staph infections.

What do staph and MRSA look like?

Both often start out as mild infections on the skin, showing up as pimples or boils. Infections with garden-variety staph are easily treated in most cases. Both staph and MRSA can cause more serious skin infections or they can lead to pneumonia or infections of the bloodstream, urinary tract or the lining of the brain. Surgical wounds are often prime targets for these germs.

How do you catch MRSA?

MRSA is nearly always connected to health care facilities. Most people who have MRSA have been hospitalized within the past year, or they’ve gotten treatment in an outpatient facility or nursing home. People can acquire MRSA in health care facilities but not show any signs of infection for weeks or months.

But in recent years, MRSA has spread beyond these facilities into places where people are in close contact, such as athletic facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about 15 percent of MRSA cases in the United States occur outside health care settings.

Skin-to-skin contact with a person who carries MRSA is believed to be the most common way people get MRSA in the community. In this situation, people who are otherwise healthy may get a skin infection with MRSA. It’s also possible to get MRSA from surfaces that are contaminated with the germ, but this is less likely than person-to-person contact.

Who is at risk for MRSA?

The CDC says it has investigated clusters of MRSA skin infections among athletes, military recruits, children, men who have sex with men, and prisoners. Risk factors include close skin-to-skin contact, openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene.

What about schools?

Recommendations for preventing infections in schools focus on good hygiene. Cleaning regimens vary from district to district. The CDC says that in most cases, it is not necessary to close schools because a student has an MRSA infection. Covering infections will greatly reduce the risks of surfaces becoming contaminated. The CDC says the only surfaces that need to be cleaned are those that have been recently touched by someone with MRSA. “In general,” the CDC says, “it is not necessary to close schools to ‘disinfect’ them.”

What about health clubs?

The CDC says that the environment has not played a significant role in MRSA outbreaks, but it advises that you always practice good hygiene. At health clubs, this would include showering after working out and using a barrier such as clothing or a towel between your skin and shared equipment. The CDC also recommends wiping surfaces of equipment before and after use.

Why the sudden outbreak of MRSA?

There hasn’t been a sudden increase. Drug-resistant staph germs have been spreading across the country for years now, causing deaths from time to time. In the JAMA study published in the fall of 2007, the CDC estimated that 94,000 Americans get potentially life-threatening MRSA infections every year. That’s three times the previous estimates and came as a surprise to many people.

How is MRSA treated if it is resistant to antibiotics?

So far, MRSA is not resistant to all antibiotics. Vancomycin is one treatment. If your doctor prescribes an antibiotic, take the whole prescription — stopping too soon can cause bacteria to become resistant to that antibiotic.

What is the new resistant staph being reported in gay communities?

It’s a variant of the MRSA that’s spreading nationally. It’s resistant to more antibiotics than regular MRSA — not just penicillin-type drugs like methicillin but also clindamycin, erythromycin and mupirocin. The new strain is called multiply drug-resistant MRSA (MDR-MRSA).

The strain has caused serious infections in hundreds of people so far, mostly in the gay communities of San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and New York. Doctors say these infections are more fast-moving, so any delay in recognizing them and treating them with the right antibiotic can cause life-threatening infections.

Researchers think many of the infections so far have been transmitted during sexual activity. But MDR-MRSA is spread through skin-to-skin contact and sometimes by contaminated surfaces or shared towels. So anyone can get infected. The precautions are the same — frequent and thorough washing, and immediate attention to any boils or painful rashes.

So far, nearly all recognized cases of the multiply drug resistant staph have been among gay and bisexual men. The cases are showing up most often in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

MDR staph is related to an MRSA strain called USA-300 that has appeared in schools, prisons and athletic teams around the country. But MDR staph is even more resistant to antibiotics.

Ordinary resistant USA-300 staph can escape being killed by methicillin and other penicillin antibiotics. The new MDR type also resists treatment by clindamycin, which is often recommended to treat resistant staph. It’s also resistant to erythromycin and to mupirocin, a topical antibiotic that’s used to kill lurking staph on the skin to prevent recurrent infections.

Ominously, the new MDR variant has in some cases shown it can develop resistance to even more stand-by antibiotics, such as vancomycin and Bactrim. That would leave doctors with perilously few, and costly, alternatives.

Boswell says the new variant also causes more-virulent skin infections.

But because doctors often try ineffective antibiotics first, precious time is lost.

An article in the online version of the Annals of Internal Medicine documents the spread of MDR staph.  Among gay men with resistant staph infections, the report notes that about 20 percent in San Francisco and up to 50 percent in Boston “are infected with this more-difficult-to-treat form of USA-300.  It was noted that because USA-300 and other Staph aureus are so easily spread — just through [skin-to-skin] contact transmission — we don’t think it will be restricted to the men-who-have-sex-with-men population, but will be spread into the general population.

Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Medizone International, Inc.
Post Office Box 742
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
Telephone: 415-868-0300
Fax: 415-868-2344

This release contains certain forward looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of ongoing clinical studies, economic conditions, product and technology development, production efficiencies, product demand, competitive products, competitive environment, successful testing and government regulatory issues. Additional risks are identified in the company’s filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Clostridium difficile, often called C. difficile or “C. diff,” is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the one of the leading pathogens causing hospital-acquired infection in the United States. It may cause diarrhea, colitis, sepsis and lead to prolonged hospitalization and death.

An aggressive strain of C. difficile has emerged that produces far more deadly toxins than other strains do. The new strain is more resistant to certain medications and has shown up in people who haven’t been in the hospital or taken antibiotics. This strain of C. difficile has caused several outbreaks of illness since 2000.

The majority of C. difficile cases occur in health care settings, where germs spread easily, antibiotic use is common and people are especially vulnerable to infection. In hospitals and nursing homes, C. difficile spreads mainly on the hands of caregivers, but also on cart handles, bedrails, bedside tables, toilets, sinks, stethoscopes, thermometers — even telephones and remote controls.

Even mild to moderate C. difficile infections can quickly progress to a fatal disease if not treated promptly.

In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren’t hospitalized or taking antibiotics.

Mild illness caused by C. difficile may get better if you stop taking antibiotics. More severe symptoms require treatment with a different antibiotic.

Some people who have C. difficile never become sick, though they can still spread the infection. C. difficile illness usually develops during or shortly after a course of antibiotics. But signs and symptoms may not appear for weeks or even months afterward.

The most common symptoms of mild to moderate C. difficile disease are:

• Watery diarrhea three or more times a day for two or more days
• Mild abdominal cramping and tenderness

In more severe cases, C. difficile causes the colon to become inflamed (colitis) or to form patches of raw tissue that can bleed or produce pus (pseudomembranous colitis). Signs and symptoms of severe infection include:

• Watery diarrhea 10 to 15 times a day
• Abdominal cramping and pain, which may be severe
• Fever
• Blood or pus in the stool
• Nausea
• Dehydration
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

When to see a doctor

Many people have loose stools during or shortly after antibiotic therapy. See your doctor if your symptoms last more than three days or you have fever, severe pain or cramping, or blood in your stool, or more than three bowel movements a day.

C. difficile bacteria can be found throughout the environment — in soil, air, water, and human and animal feces. A small number of healthy people naturally carry the bacteria in their large intestine. But C. difficile is most common in hospitals and other health care facilities, where a much higher percentage of people carry the bacteria.

C. difficile bacteria are passed in feces and spread to food, surfaces and objects when people who are infected don’t wash their hands thoroughly. The bacteria produce hardy spores that can persist in a room for weeks or months. If you touch a surface contaminated with C. difficile, you may then unknowingly ingest the bacteria.

People in good health don’t usually get sick from C. difficile. Your intestines contain millions of bacteria, many of which help protect your body from infection. But when you take an antibiotic to treat an infection, the drug can destroy some of the normal, helpful bacteria as well as the bacteria causing the illness. Without enough healthy bacteria, C. difficile can quickly grow out of control. The antibiotics that most often lead to C. difficile infections include fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, clindamycin and penicillins.

Once established, C. difficile can produce toxins that attack the lining of the intestine. The toxins destroy cells and produce patches (plaques) of inflammatory cells and decaying cellular debris inside the colon.

Although people — including children — with no known risk factors have gotten sick from C. difficile, your risk is greatest if you:

Are taking or have recently taken antibiotics. The risk goes up if you take broad-spectrum drugs that target a wide range of bacteria, use multiple antibiotics or take antibiotics for a prolonged period.

• Are 65 years of age or older. The risk of becoming infected with C. difficile is 10 times greater for people age 65 and up compared with younger people.
• Are or have recently been hospitalized, especially for an extended period
• Live in a nursing home or long term care facility.
• Have a serious underlying illness or a weakened immune system as a result of a medical condition or treatment (such as chemotherapy).
• Have had abdominal surgery or a gastrointestinal procedure.
• Have a colon disease such as inflammatory bowel disease or colorectal cancer.
• Have had a previous C. difficile infection.

Complications of C. difficile infections include:

Dehydration. Severe diarrhea can lead to a significant loss of fluids and electrolytes. This makes it difficult for your body to function normally and can cause blood pressure to drop to dangerously low levels.

Kidney failure. In some cases, dehydration can occur so quickly that kidney function deteriorates (kidney failure).* A hole in your large intestine (bowel perforation). This results from extensive damage to the lining of your large intestine. A perforated bowel can spill bacteria from the intestine into your abdominal cavity, leading to a life-threatening infection (peritonitis).

Toxic megacolon. In this condition, the colon becomes grossly distended when it’s unable to expel gas and stool. Left untreated, your colon can rupture, causing bacteria from the colon to enter your abdominal cavity. A ruptured colon requires emergency surgery and may be fatal.

Death. Even mild to moderate C. difficile infections can quickly progress to a fatal disease if not treated promptly.

Doctors often suspect C. difficile in anyone with diarrhea who has taken antibiotics during the past two months or when diarrhea develops a few days after hospitalization. In such cases, you’re likely to have one or more of the following tests:

Stool tests. Toxins produced by C. difficile bacteria can usually be detected in a sample of your stool. There are several main types of lab tests (enzyme immunoassay, polymerase chain reaction, and tissue culture assay). Most labs use the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test, which is faster but can produce a false-positive result. Some hospitals use both the EIA test and tissue culture assay to ensure accurate results.

Colon examination. In some cases, to help confirm a diagnosis of C. difficile infection, your doctor may examine the inside of your colon. This test (flexible sigmoidoscopy) involves inserting a flexible tube with a small camera on one end into your lower colon to look for areas of inflammation and pseudomembranes.

Imaging tests. If there’s concern about possible complications of C. difficile, your doctor may order a computerized tomography (CT) scan, which provides detailed images of your colon. The scan can show a thickening of the wall of your colon, which is common in pseudomembranous colitis.

Medizone International, Inc. is a research and development company engaged in developing its AsepticSure™ System to decontaminate and sterilize hospitals, sports training facilities, schools and other critical infrastructure. A government variant is being developed for bio-terrorism counter measures. Successful decontamination by AsepticSure™ to the 6 log standard or greater has been demonstrated with C.difficile, E coli, Pseudomonas aeruginous, MRSA, VRE and Bacillius subtilis.

Medizone International, Inc.
Post Office Box 742
Stinson Beach, CA 94970
Telephone: 415-868-0300
Fax: 415-868-2344

This release contains certain forward looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the results of ongoing clinical studies, economic conditions, product and technology development, production efficiencies, product demand, competitive products, competitive environment, successful testing and government regulatory issues. Additional risks are identified in the company’s filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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