TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbial air quality in healthcare facilities
AU - Bonadonna, Lucia
AU - Briancesco, Rossella
AU - Coccia, Anna Maria
AU - Meloni, Pierluigi
AU - La Rosa, Giuseppina
AU - Moscato, Umberto
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - There is increasing evidence that indoor air quality and contaminated surfaces provide an important potential source for transmission of pathogens in hospitals. Airborne hospital microorganisms are apparently harmless to healthy people. Nevertheless, healthcare settings are characterized by different environmental critical conditions and high infective risk, mainly due to the compromised immunologic conditions of the patients that make them more vulnerable to infections. Thus, spread, survival and persistence of microbial communities are important factors in hospital environments affecting health of inpatients as well as of medical and nursing staff. In this paper, airborne and aerosolized microorganisms and their presence in hospital environments are taken into consider-ation, and the factors that collectively contribute to defining the infection risk in these facilities are illustrated.
AB - There is increasing evidence that indoor air quality and contaminated surfaces provide an important potential source for transmission of pathogens in hospitals. Airborne hospital microorganisms are apparently harmless to healthy people. Nevertheless, healthcare settings are characterized by different environmental critical conditions and high infective risk, mainly due to the compromised immunologic conditions of the patients that make them more vulnerable to infections. Thus, spread, survival and persistence of microbial communities are important factors in hospital environments affecting health of inpatients as well as of medical and nursing staff. In this paper, airborne and aerosolized microorganisms and their presence in hospital environments are taken into consider-ation, and the factors that collectively contribute to defining the infection risk in these facilities are illustrated.
KW - Air Microbiology
KW - Air Pollution, Indoor
KW - Delivery of Health Care
KW - Health Facilities
KW - Healthcare facilities
KW - Hospitals
KW - Humans
KW - Indoor air
KW - Microbial contamination
KW - Surface contamination
KW - Air Microbiology
KW - Air Pollution, Indoor
KW - Delivery of Health Care
KW - Health Facilities
KW - Healthcare facilities
KW - Hospitals
KW - Humans
KW - Indoor air
KW - Microbial contamination
KW - Surface contamination
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/206412
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18126226
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18126226
M3 - Article
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 18
SP - 6226
EP - 6226
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
ER -