The impact of ventilation rate on reducing the microorganisms load in the air and on surfaces in a room-sized chamber
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Waseem Hiwar; Marco‐Felipe King; Harith Kharrufa; Emma Tidswell; Louise A. Fletcher; Catherine J. Noakes
- Source
- Indoor airREFERENCES. 32(11)
- Subject
- Staphylococcus aureus
Cross Infection
Environmental Engineering
Air Pollution, Indoor
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Humans
Building and Construction
Ventilation
Hospitals
- Language
- ISSN
- 1600-0668
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a global challenge incurring mortalities and high treatment costs. The environment plays an important role in transmission due to contaminated air and surfaces. This includes microorganisms' deposition from the air onto surfaces. Quantifying the deposition rate of microorganisms enables understanding surface contamination and can inform strategies to mitigate the infection risk. We developed and validated a novel Automated Multiplate Passive Air Sampling (AMPAS) device. This enables sequences of passive deposition samples to be collected over a controlled time period without human intervention. AMPAS was used with air sampling to measure the effect of ventilation rate and spatial location on the deposition rate of aerosolized Staphylococcus aureus in a 32 m