SKOKIE, Ill. (CBS) — “If there’s something weird and it don’t look good,” and particularly if it’s making you sick, who you gonna call?

No, you won’t find Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, or any ghosts at Microbe Busters, but you will find some new efforts to eradicate deadly germs.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports in this week’s Made in Chicago, Aaron Montrose began his Skokie-based company a year ago to combat the growing problem of infectious diseases.

“The number of hospital-acquired infections, for example, is estimated, conservatively, to be about 271 people a day who actually die from an infection acquired in a hospital,” Montrose said.

Many of those bacteria, such as MRSA, C. Diff and Listeria increasingly are resistant to antibiotics. But Microbe Busters’ anti-microbial product is high-tech, using nanotechnology.

“The bacteria or contagions that they kill cannot build up a resistance to our anti-microbial because there’s no poison involved,” Montrose said. “Ours is a mechanical kill.”
Right now, the market for his product is mainly hospitals, nursing homes and other places that need to eliminate disease-causing germs from their environments. But increasingly, they’re moving into the household market.

Microbe Busters’ newest product is a laundry additive.

“There will come a time that every household, everyone will want to have this in their laundry,” Montrose said. “I think it will become the standard. I don’t think anyone will want to have clothes washed without it.”

Microbe Busters is located at 8170 McCormick Blvd., Suite 208, in Skokie. You can reach them at (847) 677-8500.