Health Care Facilities

This chapter addresses applications of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) in health care facilities, including laboratories and animal or veterinary facilities. This chapter does not review the applicable guidelines or standards for air quality in these facilities, which typically do not mention UVGI, but the references and Chapter 11 may be consulted for more detailed information. The types of UV systems covered in this chapter have been addressed in detail in previous chapters and these designs are not revisited here. Instead, this chapter discusses the various applications of UV to the indicated facilities, how they have been applied in the past, what effectiveness they have previously demonstrated, and how new UV systems may be applied to reduce the microbiological hazards associated with each type of facility. Also addressed here are the types of pathogens that are unique to certain facilities and, in particular, nosocomial pathogens and the problem of increasing drug resistance.