ArticleIndoor air2022
The effect of air purifiers and curtains on aerosol dispersion and removal in multi-patient hospital rooms.
Article in Indoor air, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Self-activating air filtration device for aerosol control during luminal instruments drying in the sterile processing department.PloS one · 2025Article
- Effect of multifunctional cationic polymer coatings on mitigation of broad microbial pathogens.Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Impact of test methodology on the efficacy of triethylene glycol (Grignard Pure) against bacteriophage MS2.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2023Article
- Personalized Nasal Protective Devices: Importance and Perspectives.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The effect of air purifiers and curtains on aerosol dispersion and removal in multi-patient hospital rooms.Indoor air · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Airborne transmission of disease is of concern in many indoor spaces. Here, aerosol dispersion and removal in an unoccupied 4-bed hospital room were characterized using a transient aerosol tracer experiment for 38 experiments covering 4 configurations of air purifiers and 3 configurations of curtains. NaCl particle (mass mean aerodynamic diameter ~3 μm) concentrations were measured around the room following an aerosol release. Particle transport across the room was 1.5-4 min which overlaps with the characteristic times for significant viral deactivation and gravitational settling of larger particles. Concentrations were close to spatially uniform except very near the source. Curtains resulted in a modest increase in delay and decay times, less so when combined with purifiers. The aerosol decay rate was in most cases higher than expected from the clean air delivery rate, but the reduction in steady-state concentrations resulting from air purifiers was less than suggested by the decay rates. Apparently, a substantial (and configuration-dependent) fraction of the aerosol is removed immediately, and this effect is not captured by the decay rate. Overall, the combination of curtains and purifiers is likely to reduce disease transmission in multi-patient hospital rooms.
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Registered trials
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