Journal
INDOOR AIR
Volume 20, Issue 4, Pages 284-297Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2010.00653.x
Keywords
Airborne infection; Isolation room; Large droplets; Ventilation
Categories
Funding
- Hong Kong SAR Government [HKU 7150/06E]
- National Nature and Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [50808038]
- Jiangsu Fundamental Research Project [BK2009289]
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Removal of airborne particles in airborne infection isolation rooms is important for infection control of airborne diseases. Previous studies showed that the downward ventilation recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not produce the expected 'laminar' flow for pushing down respiratory gaseous contaminants and removing them via floor-level exhausts. Instead, upper-level exhausts were more efficient in removing gaseous contaminants because of upward body plumes. The conventional wisdom in the current CDC-recommended design is that floor-level exhausts may efficiently remove large droplets/particles, but such a hypothesis has not been proven. We investigated the fate of respiratory particles in a full-scale six-bed isolation room with exhausts at different locations by both experimental and computational studies. Breathing thermal manikins were used to simulate patients, and both gaseous and large particles were used to simulate the expelled fine droplet nuclei and large droplets. Gaseous and fine particles were found to be removed more efficiently by ceiling-level exhausts than by floor-level exhausts. Large particles were mainly removed by deposition rather than by ventilation. Our results show that the existing isolation room ventilation design is not effective in removing both fine and large respiratory particles. An improved ventilation design is hence recommended.
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