IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i1p51-d87205.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements

Author

Listed:
  • Chunxiao Su

    (Durham School of Architecture Engineering and Construction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1110 S 67th Street, Omaha, NE 68182, USA)

  • Josephine Lau

    (Durham School of Architecture Engineering and Construction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1110 S 67th Street, Omaha, NE 68182, USA)

  • Fang Yu

    (Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 984375 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA)

Abstract

Recently, the requirement to continuously collect bioaerosol samples using shorter response times has called for the use of real-time detection. The decreased cost of this technology makes it available for a wider application than military use, and makes it accessible to pharmaceutical and academic research. In this case study, real-time bioaerosol monitors (RBMs) were applied in elementary school classrooms—a densely occupied environment—along with upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) devices. The classrooms were separated into a UVGI group and a non-UVGI control group. Fluorescent bioaerosol counts (FBCs) were monitored on 20 visiting days over a four-month period. The classroom with upper-room UVGI showed significantly lower concentrations of fine size (<3 μm) and total FBCs than the control classroom during 13 of the 20 visiting days. The results of the study indicate that the upper-room UVGI could be effective in reducing FBCs in the school environment, and RBMs may be applicable in reflecting the transient conditions of the classrooms due to the dynamic activity levels of the students and teachers.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunxiao Su & Josephine Lau & Fang Yu, 2017. "A Case Study of Upper-Room UVGI in Densely-Occupied Elementary Classrooms by Real-Time Fluorescent Bioaerosol Measurements," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:1:p:51-:d:87205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/1/51/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/1/51/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vishal D. Nathu & Jurate Virkutyte & Marepalli B. Rao & Marina Nieto-Caballero & Mark Hernandez & Tiina Reponen, 2022. "Direct-Read Fluorescence-Based Measurements of Bioaerosol Exposure in Home Healthcare," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Christopher W. Ryan, 2023. "Decreased Respiratory-Related Absenteeism among Preschool Students after Installation of Upper Room Germicidal Ultraviolet Light: Analysis of Newly Discovered Historical Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.
    3. Hanns Moshammer & Stana Simic & Daniela Haluza, 2017. "UV-Radiation: From Physics to Impacts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-5, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:1:p:51-:d:87205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.