Experimental studies on airborne transmission in hospitals: A systematic review

Abstract

Experimental studies can provide understanding, knowledge and real-case empirical evidence on the effects of building ventilation and environmental factors on airborne transmission in hospitals. Information obtained from existing studies gives insight into formulating engineering solutions and management practices to combat nosocomial airborne infections. A systemic review was conducted to summarize the experimental methods, research interests, useful results and limitations. With a steady but slow trend of increasing interest, experimental studies have been focusing mainly on the effects of ventilation systems, strategies and configurations on airborne transmission. The dispersion of bioaerosols under the combined effects of environmental factors, emission scenarios and human movement was investigated. Localized ventilation, air purifiers and disinfection technologies were also examined. The experimental techniques and some useful insights on optimal ventilation strategies and management practices were summarized and highlighted. Limitations of the empirical studies included sampling difficulties, limited scale and a number of testing scenarios, uncontrolled/unconsidered influencing factors and the media for experimentations. Using IoT-based sampling devices for experiments and real-time monitoring of bioaerosols or their surrogates, field surveys on a case-by-case basis in hospitals and interdisciplinary studies and collaborations could help overcome the research challenges and provide practical and effective solutions to minimize airborne transmission in hospitals.