Impact of HVAC-Systems on the Dispersion of Infectious Aerosols in a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Larisa Anghel, Cătălin-George Popovici, Cristian Stătescu, Radu Sascău, Marina Verdeș, Vasilică Ciocan, Ionela-Lăcrămioara Șerban, Minela Aida Mărănducă, Sebastian-Valeriu Hudișteanu and Florin-Emilian Țurcanu
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Larisa Anghel: Internal Medicine Department, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700503 Iași, Romania
Cătălin-George Popovici: Building Services Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iaşi, Romania
Cristian Stătescu: Internal Medicine Department, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700503 Iași, Romania
Radu Sascău: Internal Medicine Department, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700503 Iași, Romania
Marina Verdeș: Building Services Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iaşi, Romania
Vasilică Ciocan: Building Services Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iaşi, Romania
Ionela-Lăcrămioara Șerban: Physiology Department, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700503 Iași, Romania
Minela Aida Mărănducă: Physiology Department, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700503 Iași, Romania
Sebastian-Valeriu Hudișteanu: Building Services Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iaşi, Romania
Florin-Emilian Țurcanu: Building Services Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University, 700050 Iaşi, Romania

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: At the end of 2019, a variation of a coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, has been identified as being responsible for a respiratory illness disease (COVID-19). Since ventilation is an important factor that influences airborne transmission, we proposed to study the impact of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) with a variable air volume (VAV) primary air system, on the dispersion of infectious aerosols, in a cardiac intensive care unit, using a transient simulation with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), based on the finite element method (FEM). We analyzed three scenarios that followed the dispersion of pathogen carrying expiratory droplets particles from coughing, from patients possibly infected with COVID-19, depending on the location of the patients in the intensive care unit. Our study provides the mechanism for spread of infectious aerosols, and possibly of COVID-19 infection, by air conditioning systems and also highlights important recommendations for disease control and optimization of ventilation in intensive care units, by increasing the use of outdoor air and the rate of air change, decreasing the recirculation of air and using high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. The CFD-FEM simulation approach that was applied in our study could also be extended to other targets, such as public transport, theaters, philharmonics and amphitheaters from educational units.

Keywords: COVID-19; airborne transmission; intensive care unit; air conditioning systems; hospital-acquired infections; risk factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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