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A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements
Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295302/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28075352 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010051 |
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author | Su, Chunxiao Lau, Josephine Yu, Fang |
author_facet | Su, Chunxiao Lau, Josephine Yu, Fang |
author_sort | Su, Chunxiao |
collection | PubMed |
description | Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic research. In this case study, real-time bioaerosol monitors (RBMs) were applied in elementary school classrooms—a densely occupied environment—along with upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices. The classrooms were separated into a UVGI group and a non-UVGI control group. Fluorescent bioaerosol counts (FBCs) were monitored on 20 visiting days over a four-month period. The classroom with upper-room UVGI showed significantly lower concentrations of fine size (<3 μm) and total FBCs than the control classroom during 13 of the 20 visiting days. The results of the study indicate that the upper-room UVGI could be effective in reducing FBCs in the school environment, and RBMs may be applicable in reflecting the transient conditions of the classrooms due to the dynamic activity levels of the students and teachers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5295302 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-52953022017-02-07 A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements Su, Chunxiao Lau, Josephine Yu, Fang Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic research. In this case study, real-time bioaerosol monitors (RBMs) were applied in elementary school classrooms—a densely occupied environment—along with upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices. The classrooms were separated into a UVGI group and a non-UVGI control group. Fluorescent bioaerosol counts (FBCs) were monitored on 20 visiting days over a four-month period. The classroom with upper-room UVGI showed significantly lower concentrations of fine size (<3 μm) and total FBCs than the control classroom during 13 of the 20 visiting days. The results of the study indicate that the upper-room UVGI could be effective in reducing FBCs in the school environment, and RBMs may be applicable in reflecting the transient conditions of the classrooms due to the dynamic activity levels of the students and teachers. MDPI 2017-01-08 2017-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5295302/ /pubmed/28075352 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010051 Text en © 2017 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Su, Chunxiao Lau, Josephine Yu, Fang A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title | A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title_full | A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title_fullStr | A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title_full_unstemmed | A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title_short | A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements |
title_sort | case study of upper-room uvgi in densely-occupied elementary classrooms by real-time fluorescent bioaerosol measurements |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295302/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28075352 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010051 |
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