Particle and bioaerosol characteristics in a paediatric intensive care unit.

ABSTRACT: The paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) provides care to critically ill neonates, infants and children. These patients are vulnerable and susceptible to the environment surrounding them, yet there is little information available on indoor air quality and factors affecting it within a PICU. To address this gap in knowledge we conducted continuous indoor and outdoor airborne particle concentration measurements over a two-week period at the Royal Children's Hospital PICU in Brisbane, Australia, and we also collected 82 bioaerosol samples to test for the presence of bacterial and viral pathogens. Our results showed that both 24-hour average indoor particle mass (PM₁₀) (0.6-2.2μgm^-3, median: 0.9μgm^-3) and submicrometer particle number (PN) (0.1-2.8×10³

SUBMITTER: He C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7172583 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature