Multizone Modeling of Strategies to Reduce the Spread of Airborne Infectious Agents in Healthcare Facilities

Published

February 1, 2013

Author(s)

Steven J. Emmerich, David Heinzerling, Jung-il Choi, Andrew K. Persily

Abstract

Control of airborne infectious agents in hospitals is critical both to effective health care and to the control of direct and indirect health care costs. Current hospital design guidelines focus on ventilation rates, room pressure control and air filtration to control the spread of airborne infectious agents. Studies indicate, however, that there is much variability in hospital design strategies used by engineers to control airborne pathogens. This study focuses on a number of questions concerning current hospital design practices and provides an overview of the tools and methods that can be used to answer some of these questions. Multizone airflow and contaminant transport simulations are used to examine different control strategies and some related issues of design and application. Design issues associated with room pressurization, filtration, and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) are also reviewed.

Citation

Building and Environment

Volume

60

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Airborne infection, filtration, hospital, indoor air quality, simulation, ventilation

Citation

Emmerich, S. , Heinzerling, D. , Choi, J. and Persily, A. (2013), Multizone Modeling of Strategies to Reduce the Spread of Airborne Infectious Agents in Healthcare Facilities, Building and Environment, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=912085 (Accessed October 12, 2025)