1 / 18

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Quality. “Quality” Indoor Air. Good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) depends upon... Proper circulation Age of the building Regular maintenance Filtration Humidity levels. Indoor air in schools. One out of every thirteen school-aged children suffer from asthma

olisa
Download Presentation

Indoor Air Quality

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Indoor Air Quality

  2. “Quality” Indoor Air • Good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) depends upon... • Proper circulation • Age of the building • Regular maintenance • Filtration • Humidity levels

  3. Indoor air in schools • One out of every thirteen school-aged children suffer from asthma • Every year, more than 10 million absentee days are accumulated on account of airborne related illnesses • EPA study in 2000 determined 50% of nation’s schools had improperly maintained equipment

  4. Student test performance • Effect of outdoor air supply rate and filtration • Speed of 4 of 7 tests performed improved significantly when outdoor air supply rate increased • No sig. effect on test scores • Effect of moderately raised temperatures • When temps reduced from 25 to 20 degrees Celsius, performance (speed) improved in 2 numerical and 2 language based tests • Effect of particle filtration • So significant effects on performance Wargocki and Lyon, 2006. Wargockiet al., 2007.

  5. Indoor Air Pollutants • Radon • Carbon Monoxide • Ozone • Tobacco Smoke • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) • Toxic Materials – Asbestos, Lead • Biological Aerosols (Bioaerosols)

  6. Bioaerosols • Defined as... • Any airborne molecule that is biological in origin • can be in the form of gases, vapor, or large particulates. • can also be microorganisms themselves - Fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoans

  7. Bioaerosols Source: http://www.state.nj.us/health/eoh/peoshweb/bioaero.htm

  8. Aerial Microbiological Contamination • Study conducted in Italy, Daccarroet al. 2003, looking at airborne microbial communities in gyms • Found a higher abundance of “Staph” in the gym compared with outdoors • Also, 38 fungi taxa in gyms and 30 outdoors

  9. Classroom activities • Growing Airborne Microbes • Comparing different areas of the scholastic environment • Petri dishes • Agar medium • Particulate traps • Wire hangers, nylon, and petroleum jelly

  10. Legionella • Genus of bacteria • Legionnaires disease • Flu-like symptoms • Domestic hot-water systems and cooling towers

  11. Staphlococcus • Most species harmless • Food poisoning • More recently, human infections

  12. Actinomycetes • Very common: 1-20 million/ g of soil • Look much like fungi but are bacteria • Tuberculosis

  13. Histoplasma • Histoplasmosis • Primarily effects lungs • Common in immunodeficent individuals

  14. Alternaria • Mostly plant pathogens • Allergen to humans

  15. Pencillium • Commonly known as moulds • Main cause of food spoilage • Produce mycotoxins • Many practical applications

  16. Aspergillus • Another common mould • Some species produce aflatoxins • Also, many practical applications

  17. Stachybotrys • Black mold • Moist areas • Wide range of symptoms • Extended exposure: very severe symptoms

  18. Dermatophagoides (dust mites) • One of the main causes of asthma • Fecal matter higher allergenic • Unfortunately, no way to avoid...FOUND EVERYWHERE

More Related