Publication Summary
site of a TB ward ventilation system redesign. Extract (low, wall) Bed 2 Bed 1 Supply (ceiling) Extracts (high, wall) Bed 2 Bed 1 Supply (ceiling) Supply (ceiling) Hospital-acquired infection poses a major problem in healthcare facilities around the world. Although many infections are transmitted through hand-to-hand contact, airborne transmission also may play an important role; this is the primary mechanism for a number of infections, including tuberculosis (TB) and influenza. Airborne routes also have been implicated in the transmission of hospital-acquired infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter spp and noro-virus. Successful control of infection involves breaking the chain of transmission. To do so, it is necessary to understand both the mode of transmission as well as the nature of the pathogen and its behavior in the environment. The role played by airborne transport of pathogens has been the driving force behind the research carried out by the Pathogen Control Engineering Group at the University of Leeds in the U.K. for the past 10 years. The multidisciplinary team of engineers , mathematical modelers and Simulation assists in designing a hospital ward to reduce the airborne transmission of diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. Original room layout and ventilation system (top) and proposed new layout (bottom) showing the location of the partition between the two beds, the additional ventilation supply diffuser and the modified extract locations microbiologists is based in the School of Civil Engineering, with strong links to clinicians at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and to academics and scientists around the world. Originally set up to investigate ultraviolet (UV) air disinfection devices to combat TB, the group now focuses on understanding airborne transmission routes with a strong emphasis on the hospital environment. This knowledge is used to aid the development of new infection control technologies and to optimize engineering strategies to reduce the risk of disease. The suitability of a ward ventilation system design was the subject of a recent study carried out using ANSYS CFX computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software [3]. The two-bed ward in Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, located in Lima, Peru, is one of a number of similar rooms housing patients with TB. Unusual to a hospital in this part of the world, the wards are mechanically ventilated. Any airborne transmission of TB within the hospital will be strongly influenced by the imposed ventilation flow. As part of a wider project researching TB transmission , …
CAER Authors
Prof. Catherine Noakes
University of Leeds - Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings