Public Health Matters

Properly-functioning airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs) help to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in health care facilities.

That's according to a study led by Pete Raynor, an environmental health professor at the University of Minnesota.

The need for effective AIIRs in hospitals has taken on greater urgency with increased awareness of the threats of bioterrorism and pandemic influenza.

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But in Raynor's study, measurements of the pressure in AIIRs indicated that only 32 percent achieved the recommended pressure.