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Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea

In this study, the results of an airflow investigation conducted on 7 June 2015 as part of a series of epidemiologic investigations at Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital, South Korea, were investigated. The study involved 38 individuals who were infected directly and indirectly with Middle East Respirat...

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Autores principales: Sung, Minki, Jo, Seongmin, Lee, Sang-Eun, Ki, Moran, Choi, Bo Youl, Hong, JinKwan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30563206
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122757
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author Sung, Minki
Jo, Seongmin
Lee, Sang-Eun
Ki, Moran
Choi, Bo Youl
Hong, JinKwan
author_facet Sung, Minki
Jo, Seongmin
Lee, Sang-Eun
Ki, Moran
Choi, Bo Youl
Hong, JinKwan
author_sort Sung, Minki
collection PubMed
description In this study, the results of an airflow investigation conducted on 7 June 2015 as part of a series of epidemiologic investigations at Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital, South Korea, were investigated. The study involved 38 individuals who were infected directly and indirectly with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), by a super-spreader patient. Tracer gas experiments conducted on the eighth floor, where the initial patient was hospitalized, confirmed that the tracer gas spread to adjacent patient rooms and rooms across corridors. In particular, the experiment with an external wind direction and speed similar to those during the hospitalization of the initial patient revealed that the air change rate was 17–20 air changes per hour (ACH), with air introduced through the window in the room of the infected patient (room 8104). The tracer gas concentration of room 8110, which was the farthest room, was 7.56% of room 8104, indicating that a high concentration of gas has spread from room 8104 to rooms across the corridor. In contrast, the tracer gas was barely detected in a maternity ward to the south of room 8104, where there was no secondary infected patient. Moreover, MERS is known to spread mainly by droplets through close contact, but long-distance dispersion is probable in certain environments, such as that of a super-spreader patient hospitalized in a room without ventilation, hospitals with a central corridor type, and indoor airflow dispersion due to external wind.
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spelling pubmed-63135542019-06-17 Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea Sung, Minki Jo, Seongmin Lee, Sang-Eun Ki, Moran Choi, Bo Youl Hong, JinKwan Int J Environ Res Public Health Article In this study, the results of an airflow investigation conducted on 7 June 2015 as part of a series of epidemiologic investigations at Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital, South Korea, were investigated. The study involved 38 individuals who were infected directly and indirectly with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), by a super-spreader patient. Tracer gas experiments conducted on the eighth floor, where the initial patient was hospitalized, confirmed that the tracer gas spread to adjacent patient rooms and rooms across corridors. In particular, the experiment with an external wind direction and speed similar to those during the hospitalization of the initial patient revealed that the air change rate was 17–20 air changes per hour (ACH), with air introduced through the window in the room of the infected patient (room 8104). The tracer gas concentration of room 8110, which was the farthest room, was 7.56% of room 8104, indicating that a high concentration of gas has spread from room 8104 to rooms across the corridor. In contrast, the tracer gas was barely detected in a maternity ward to the south of room 8104, where there was no secondary infected patient. Moreover, MERS is known to spread mainly by droplets through close contact, but long-distance dispersion is probable in certain environments, such as that of a super-spreader patient hospitalized in a room without ventilation, hospitals with a central corridor type, and indoor airflow dispersion due to external wind. MDPI 2018-12-06 2018-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6313554/ /pubmed/30563206 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122757 Text en © 2018 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
Sung, Minki
Jo, Seongmin
Lee, Sang-Eun
Ki, Moran
Choi, Bo Youl
Hong, JinKwan
Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title_full Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title_fullStr Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title_short Airflow as a Possible Transmission Route of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome at an Initial Outbreak Hospital in Korea
title_sort airflow as a possible transmission route of middle east respiratory syndrome at an initial outbreak hospital in korea
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30563206
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122757
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