Air-treatment systems for controlling: hospital-acquired infections: The epidemiology and...

Hospital-acquired, or nosocomial, infections (Figure 1) have proven to be a persistent and sometimes tragic problem. If transmission by direct contact predominates, as many experts suggest, then surface-disinfection technologies should have a major impact in reducing infection rates. But with more than a third of all nosocomial infections possibly involving airborne transmission at some point, the combination of surface and air disinfection should produce optimum results.

This article will examine the epidemiology and aerobiological pathways of airborne nosocomial infec