Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution

. Ed(s): Kundsin, Ruth B.

ISBN 10: 0195044363 / ISBN 13: 9780195044362

Published by OUP USA, 1989

About this Item

This monograph is based on an interdisciplinary seminar held by the American Society of Microbiology, and examines the effects of modern, energy-efficient architectural design on levels of microbial contamination inside buildings, particularly office buildings and hospitals. Editor(s): Kundsin, Ruth B. Num Pages: 328 pages, 101 figures and 27 tables. BIC Classification: AMC; MBNH2; MJCJ; MMFM; RNP. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 218 x 147 x 23. Weight in Grams: 667. . 1989. hardcover. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780195044362

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution
• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195044363
• ISBN 13: 9780195044362
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Chemical contaminants and other forms of indoor pollution have recently raised serious concern among occupational and environmental health workers, architects and engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Microbial pollutants in the home pose major health risks to adults, children, and particularly the immuno-suppressed, while "sick building syndrome" is a reality for many office workers. This timely book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of these problems by examining the effects of modern, energy-efficient architecture on levels of microbial contamination in air and water supplies. With the common goal of constructing a microbiologically safe environment, the contributors represent the disciplines upon whose combined efforts a solution depends: systems engineering, medicine, microbiology, environmental hygiene, and architecture. Among the topics considered are methods of contamination control in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; the microbiologist's role --and the techniques used-- in evaluating the hygienic environment; and assessment of water systems used in health care facilities. Proposing methods for the elimination of the health problems discussed, the contributors stress the need for assessment of architectural design and subsequent preventive maintenance of buildings and their intricate heating and ventilating systems; and they show how poor building design and location affects it occupants. Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution provides public health professionals, microbiologists, and architects with an authoritative resource for assuring our comfort and safety in the hospitals, homes, and workplaces we inhabit.

About the Author

Ruth B. Kundsin is at Harvard Medical School.