Clifton, I.

Elliot, M.

Fletcher, L.A.

Hathway, A.

Noakes, C.J.

Sleigh, P.A.

English

White Rose Research Online

This is a repository copy of Bioaerosol production from routine activities within a hospital ward.White Rose Research Online URL for this paper:http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/7703/Proceedings Paper:Hathway, A., Fletcher, L.A., Noakes, C.J. et al. (3 more authors) (2008) Bioaerosol production from routine activities within a hospital ward. In: Indoor Air 2008 : The 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Cl. Indoor Air 2008, 17-22nd August 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark. . eprints@whiterose.ac.ukhttps://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/Reuse See Attached Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. Bioaerosol production from routine activities within a hospital ward  Abigail Hathway1,*, Louise Fletcher1, Cath Noakes1, Andrew Sleigh1, Mark Elliot2 and Ian Clifton2  1Pathogen Control Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds 2St Jamess University Hospital, Leeds  *Corresponding email: A.Hathway@Sheffield.ac.uk      Keywords: Hospital acquired infection, Bio-aerosols, Skin squame, Staphylococcus aureus   Introduction  The ability of a human to shed bacteria, including the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus on skin particles during activities has been well documented by many authors (e.g. Davies and Noble, 1962). The majority of these studies consider only specific activities, often in controlled conditions and for short time periods. To understand how these releases may impact on infection control it is necessary to understand how the bio-aerosol concentration fluctuates with activities on a typical day in a hospital ward. For this reason the authors carried out a scoping study in 2004 on a respiratory ward and found large variation with bio-aerosol concentrations over the day (Roberts et al., 2006). The current work builds on this previous study and aims to establish whether the activity of staff on a ward can be statistically correlated to bio-aerosol concentrations. Fluctuations on multiple days are compared in order to identify typical patterns of release.  Methods The study was carried out over seven days on a 4 bed bay of a respiratory ward between 8am and 4pm. The air was sampled to determine a total viable count of bacteria using a Micro-bio MB2 sampler. Particles in five size ranges; 0.3-0.5ȝm, 0.5-1ȝm, 1-3ȝm, 3-5ȝm and >5ȝm, were sampled using a Kanomax laser particle counter. The particles were summed over 15 minute periods. Within this same period the number of hospital staff within the bay were summed and multiplied by the number of minutes present. Bio-aerosols were sampled for 5 minutes at the end of each 15 minute period.   Results The results presented here consider the three days on which ward cleaning was not carried out. Figure 1 shows the number of hospital staff in the bay with the total viable count of sampled airborne bacteria over 2.5 sampling days. The statistical analysis used Spearmans Rho correlation test since the data was not normally distributed. There is a statistical similarity between the activity and bio-aerosols (r=0.522; p<0.01; n=38) shown clearly in Figure 1 with peaks of both in the morning, tailing off into the afternoon. The fluctuation of bio-aerosols was found to be similar to that of particles sized >5ȝm (r=0.77; p<0.01; n=35). The two full days show a statistically similar pattern of bio-aerosol fluctuation (r=0.52; p<0.05; n=16).   Figure 1. Fluctuation of number of staff in the bay and the quantity of sampled bio-aerosols.  Conclusions There are high peaks of bio-aerosols and particles > 5ȝm during the morning when there is more activity, quantified here by the number of staff in the bay. This is seen on all the days.   Davies R.R., Noble W.C. 1962. Dispersal of Bacteria on Desquamated Skin. Lancet 2(7269): 1295. Roberts K. et al. 2006. Bioaerosol production on a respiratory ward. Indoor and Built Environment 15(1): 35-40. Indoor Air 2008, 17-22 August 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark - Paper ID: 44

Bioaerosol production from routine activities within a hospital ward

https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/7703/1/StJames-Indoorair2008.pdf

Bioaerosol production from routine activities within a hospital ward

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