U.S. Department of State’s “DipNote”: What the Color Blue Can Reveal About Pathogens and Contamination
Avery Waite, program analyst in USAID’s Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, discusses an innovation, known as Highlight, designed by students at Columbia University and chosen as one of the winners of USAID’s Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge, that “adds color to bleach to increase its effectiveness as a decontaminant and ensure the safety of health workers in places affected by infectious disease outbreaks. … Highlight not only makes the bleach visible, but the blue color fades after the contact time of the disinfectant has elapsed, which signals to the user that the decontamination process is complete and that the surface is safe to touch again” (3/27).