Article: Natural ventilation for reducing airborne infection in hospitals
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- Publisher Website: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.011
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| Title | Natural ventilation for reducing airborne infection in hospitals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Qian, H1 2 Li, Y1 Seto, WH3 Ching, P3 Ching, WH1 Sun, HQ1 | ||||||
| Keywords | Infection control Isolation room Natural ventilation Ventilation rate | ||||||
| Issue Date | 2010 | ||||||
| Publisher | Pergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv | ||||||
| Citation | Building And Environment, 2010, v. 45 n. 3, p. 559-565 [How to Cite?] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.011 | ||||||
| Abstract | High ventilation rate is shown to be effective for reducing cross-infection risk of airborne diseases in hospitals and isolation rooms. Natural ventilation can deliver much higher ventilation rate than mechanical ventilation in an energy-efficient manner. This paper reports a field measurement of naturally ventilated hospital wards in Hong Kong and presents a possibility of using natural ventilation for infection control in hospital wards. Our measurements showed that natural ventilation could achieve high ventilation rates especially when both the windows and the doors were open in a ward. The highest ventilation rate recorded in our study was 69.0 ACH. The airflow pattern and the airflow direction were found to be unstable in some measurements with large openings. Mechanical fans were installed in a ward window to create a negative pressure difference. Measurements showed that the negative pressure difference was negligible with large openings but the overall airflow was controlled in the expected direction. When all the openings were closed and the exhaust fans were turned on, a reasonable negative pressure was created although the air temperature was uncontrolled. The high ventilation rate provided by natural ventilation can reduce cross-infection of airborne diseases, and thus it is recommended for consideration of use in appropriate hospital wards for infection control. Our results also demonstrated a possibility of converting an existing ward using natural ventilation to a temporary isolation room through installing mechanical exhaust fans. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. | ||||||
| ISSN | 0360-1323 2011 Impact Factor: 2.4 2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.080 | ||||||
| DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.011 | ||||||
| ISI Accession Number ID | WOS:000272307700005
Funding Information: The work described in this paper was supported jointly by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. HKU 7115/04E) and a Hospital Authority-commissioned project under the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases (RFCID) by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (Project No. HA-NS-002), Hong Kong SAR Government. | ||||||
| References | References in Scopus | ||||||
| Grants | Dispersion and ventilation control of exhalation pollutants in hospital wards Understanding droplets due to the use of nebulizers and respiratory activities |
| dc.contributor.author | Qian, H | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor.author | Li, Y | ||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Seto, WH | ||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Ching, P | ||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Ching, WH | ||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Sun, HQ | ||||||
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-05-31T03:41:43Z | ||||||
| dc.date.available | 2010-05-31T03:41:43Z | ||||||
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | ||||||
| dc.description.abstract | High ventilation rate is shown to be effective for reducing cross-infection risk of airborne diseases in hospitals and isolation rooms. Natural ventilation can deliver much higher ventilation rate than mechanical ventilation in an energy-efficient manner. This paper reports a field measurement of naturally ventilated hospital wards in Hong Kong and presents a possibility of using natural ventilation for infection control in hospital wards. Our measurements showed that natural ventilation could achieve high ventilation rates especially when both the windows and the doors were open in a ward. The highest ventilation rate recorded in our study was 69.0 ACH. The airflow pattern and the airflow direction were found to be unstable in some measurements with large openings. Mechanical fans were installed in a ward window to create a negative pressure difference. Measurements showed that the negative pressure difference was negligible with large openings but the overall airflow was controlled in the expected direction. When all the openings were closed and the exhaust fans were turned on, a reasonable negative pressure was created although the air temperature was uncontrolled. The high ventilation rate provided by natural ventilation can reduce cross-infection of airborne diseases, and thus it is recommended for consideration of use in appropriate hospital wards for infection control. Our results also demonstrated a possibility of converting an existing ward using natural ventilation to a temporary isolation room through installing mechanical exhaust fans. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. | ||||||
| dc.description.grant | Dispersion and ventilation control of exhalation pollutants in hospital wards | ||||||
| dc.description.grant | Understanding droplets due to the use of nebulizers and respiratory activities | ||||||
| dc.description.grantcode | 9857 | ||||||
| dc.description.grantcode | 22011 | ||||||
| dc.description.nature | Link_to_subscribed_fulltext | ||||||
| dc.identifier.citation | Building And Environment, 2010, v. 45 n. 3, p. 559-565 [How to Cite?] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.011 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.citeulike | 5352348 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.011 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.epage | 565 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.hkuros | 161294 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.hkuros | 192415 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000272307700005
Funding Information: The work described in this paper was supported jointly by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. HKU 7115/04E) and a Hospital Authority-commissioned project under the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases (RFCID) by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (Project No. HA-NS-002), Hong Kong SAR Government. | ||||||
| dc.identifier.issn | 0360-1323 2011 Impact Factor: 2.4 2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.080 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.issue | 3 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.openurl | | ||||||
| dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-70350583069 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.spage | 559 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/59031 | ||||||
| dc.identifier.volume | 45 | ||||||
| dc.language | eng | ||||||
| dc.publisher | Pergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv | ||||||
| dc.publisher.place | United Kingdom | ||||||
| dc.relation.ispartof | Building and Environment | ||||||
| dc.relation.references | References in Scopus | ||||||
| dc.subject | Infection control | ||||||
| dc.subject | Isolation room | ||||||
| dc.subject | Natural ventilation | ||||||
| dc.subject | Ventilation rate | ||||||
| dc.title | Natural ventilation for reducing airborne infection in hospitals | ||||||
| dc.type | Article |
Author Affiliations
- The University of Hong Kong
- Southeast University
- Queen Mary Hospital Hong Kong