The aerodynamic behaviour of respiratory aerosols

Authors

Kristin K. Grosskopf, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2011

Comments

Published in Grosskopf BMC Proceedings (2011), 5(Suppl 6):P90. doi:10.1186/1753-6561-5-S6-P90. Copyright © 2011 Grosskopf

Abstract

Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) claim on average 90,000 lives each year in the U.S., nearly three times the number of annual highway deaths. Although fewer than 15% of HAIs are directly attributable to airborne transmission, more than a third may be caused by surface microbes aerosolized by the movement of air from building systems, people and equipment. As a result, a study was devised to use a synthetic respiratory aerosol to track the movement airborne contagion with respect to various environmental conditions in a healthcare environment.