Environmental and occupational health response to SARS, Taiwan, 2003.
Industrial hygiene specialists from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) visited hospitals and medical centers throughout Taiwan. They assisted with designing and evaluating ventilation modifications for infection control, developed guidelines for converting hospital rooms into SARS patient isolation rooms, prepared designs for the rapid conversion of a vacated military facility into a SARS screening and observation facility, assessed environmental aspects of dedicated SARS hospitals, and worked in concert with the Taiwanese to develop hospital ventilation guidelines. We describe the environmental findings and observations from this response, including the rapid reconfiguration of medical facilities during a national health emergency, and discuss environmental challenges should SARS or a SARS-like virus emerge again.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Denver, Colorado 80225-0226, USA. eje1@cdc.gov
Eric J
EJ
Esswein
Max
M
Kiefer
Ken
K
Wallingford
Greg
G
Burr
Lukas Jyhun-Hsiarn
LJ
Lee
Jung-Der
JD
Wang
Shun Chih
SC
Wang
Ih-Jen
IJ
Su
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D016272:Occupational Health; D010356:Patient Isolation; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013624:Taiwan; D014691:Ventilation / Q000592:standards