Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Don't be absurd

We can't do that in the Health Service. It doesn't involve spending any money:

Simply opening windows and doors could help prevent the airborne spread of germs inside hospitals, medical researchers now report.

Airborne contagions can prove deadly, with tuberculosis alone killing 1.8 million people worldwide annually.

The greatest risk for outbreaks of airborne contagions perhaps lies in hospitals, which concentrate infected patients and potential victims in close indoor quarters.
[...]
Mechanically ventilated negative-pressure respiratory isolation rooms are expensive to install and maintain, "and if they're not maintained properly, they go downhill quickly," Escombe said.

Escombe and his colleagues found that natural ventilation from just opening windows and doors could replace air in rooms more than twice as quickly as mechanical negative-pressure ventilation systems.

"Natural ventilation can offer enormous rates of air exchange for relatively little cost," he told LiveScience.

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