Air Cleaners and Respiratory Infections in Schools: A Modeling Study Based on Epidemiologic, Environmental, and Molecular Data.

air cleaner airborne transmission molecular detection respiratory viruses schools

Journal

Open forum infectious diseases
ISSN: 2328-8957
Titre abrégé: Open Forum Infect Dis
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101637045

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Apr 2024
Historique:
received: 12 12 2023
accepted: 19 03 2024
medline: 26 4 2024
pubmed: 26 4 2024
entrez: 26 4 2024
Statut: epublish

Résumé

Using a multiple-measurement approach, we examined the real-world effectiveness of portable HEPA air filtration devices (air cleaners) in a school setting. We collected data over 7 weeks during winter 2022/2023 in 2 Swiss secondary school classes: environmental (CO All 38 students participated (age, 13 Air cleaners improved air quality and showed potential benefits in reducing respiratory infections. Airborne detection of non-SARS-CoV-2 viruses was rare, suggesting that these viruses may be more difficult to detect in the air. Future studies should examine the importance of close contact and long-range transmission and the cost-effectiveness of using air cleaners.

Sections du résumé

Background UNASSIGNED
Using a multiple-measurement approach, we examined the real-world effectiveness of portable HEPA air filtration devices (air cleaners) in a school setting.
Methods UNASSIGNED
We collected data over 7 weeks during winter 2022/2023 in 2 Swiss secondary school classes: environmental (CO
Results UNASSIGNED
All 38 students participated (age, 13
Conclusions UNASSIGNED
Air cleaners improved air quality and showed potential benefits in reducing respiratory infections. Airborne detection of non-SARS-CoV-2 viruses was rare, suggesting that these viruses may be more difficult to detect in the air. Future studies should examine the importance of close contact and long-range transmission and the cost-effectiveness of using air cleaners.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofae169 PMID: 38665173 PMC: PMC11045022
pubmed: 38665173
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofae169
pii: ofae169
pmc: PMC11045022
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

ofae169

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts.

Auteurs

Nicolas Banholzer (N)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Philipp Jent (P)

Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1838-9208

Pascal Bittel (P)

Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Kathrin Zürcher (K)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
ORCID: 0000-0002-7915-3194

Lavinia Furrer (L)

Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Simon Bertschinger (S)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6829-3709

Ernest Weingartner (E)

Institute for Sensors and Electronics, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Windisch, Switzerland.

Alban Ramette (A)

Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Matthias Egger (M)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Tina Hascher (T)

Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Institute of Educational Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Lukas Fenner (L)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3309-4835

Classifications MeSH