Abstract: By contrast, airborne pathogens and respiratory infections, whether seasonal influenza or COVID-19, are addressed fairly weakly, if at all, in terms of regulations, standards, and building design and operation, pertaining to the air we breathe. This could in part be based on the lack of perceived risk or on the assumption that there are more important ways to control infectious disease, despite ample evidence that healthy indoor environments with a substantially reduced pathogen count are essential for public health. Yet, before COVID-19, to the best of our knowledge, almost no engineering-based measures to limit community respiratory infection transmission had been employed in public buildings (excluding health care facilities) or transport infrastructure any- where in the world, despite the frequency of such infections and the large health bur- den and economic losses they cause (3). First, infection- focused ventilation rates must be risk-based rather than absolute, considering pathogen emission rates and the infectious dose [for which there exist data for a number of dis- eases, including influenza (6), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS- CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome, tuberculosis, SARS-CoV-2, and measles]. The only types of public buildings where airborne infection control exist are health care facilities, where requirements for ventilation rates are typically much higher than for other public buildings (9). Global WHO IAQ guidelines must be ex- tended to include airborne pathogens and to recognize the need to control the hazard of airborne transmission of respiratory infections.
Keywords: COVID-19, respiratory infections, improvement, protection.
Title: Changing the pattern to fight respiratory infections in the home Building ventilation needs much improvement
Author: Sarah Ahmad Al Onazi, Hanan abdulrhman abuhaimid, Najwa saeed almuhawes
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
Vol. 11, Issue 1, April 2023 - September 2023
Page No: 22-25
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 12-May-2023
