We report an outbreak investigation of fungemia due to Penicillium species after prolonged flooding of a Thai hospital. Contaminated rubber diaphragms of blood culture bottles were identified, and the pseudo-outbreak was resolved after environmental cleaning, use of high-efficiency particulate air filtration, and strict compliance with basic infection control practices for blood culture procure...

The concentrations of nitrous oxide were determined at various positions in four dental surgeries in which nitrous oxide sedation was used without scavenging. Contamination was present in all the surgeries, the greatest concentration being recorded at the dentist's nose and the least in the peripheral air. The reception area adjoining the surgeries was found also to be contaminated by nitrous o...

An understanding of gas transport in unsaturated media is important for evaluation of soil aeration or movement of O 2 from the atmosphere to the soil. Soil aeration is critical for plant root growth because roots generally cannot get enough O 2 from leaves. Evaluation of gas movement is also important for estimating transport of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds from contaminated sit...

BACKGROUND Exposure to indoor air of private or public buildings contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has raised health concerns in long-term users. This exploratory neuropsychological group study investigated the potential adverse effects of chronic low-dose exposure to specific air-borne low chlorinated PCBs on well-being and behavioral measures in adult humans. METHODS Thirty...

Regular tobacco use in the enclosed environment of a car raises concerns about longer-term contamination of a car's microenvironment with residual secondhand smoke pollutants. This study (a) developed and compared methods to measure residual contamination of cars with secondhand smoke, (b) examined whether cars of smokers and nonsmokers were contaminated by secondhand smoke, and (c) how smoking...

The reliability of making risk-based corrective action (RBCA) decisions using ASTM methods was evaluated. Indoor air quality (IAQ) testing results for 153 residential homes in 1998 at a site in Denver, Colo., were evaluated in this study. Decisions regarding groundwater remediation and indoor air mitigation in residences located over a shallow groundwater plume contaminated with chlorinated com...

BACKGROUND Surfaces in congregate settings, such as vehicles used for mass transportation, can become contaminated with infectious microorganisms and facilitate disease transmission. We disinfected surfaces contaminated with H1N1 influenza viruses using hydrogen peroxide (HP) vapor at concentrations below 100 ppm and triethylene glycol (TEG)-saturated air containing 2 ppm of TEG at 25 degrees C...

Considerable research has been directed toward the development of rapid methods for the identification of air-borne microorganisms. The application of the fluorescent antibody technique (FAT) coupled with the impaction of contaminated air onto glass slides affords a rapid and specific method for the identification of air-borne Pasteurella tularensis. Early experiments presented problems of cros...

Several studies have shown that the waste heat from forced-air warming (FAW) escapes near the floor and warms the contaminated air resident near the floor. The waste heat then forms into convection currents that rise up and contaminate the sterile field above the surgical table. It has been shown that a single airborne bacterium can cause a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) following joint r...

The submitted paper deals with the problems of trapping and enriching the gases and aerosols of the substances to be determined in the ambient atmosphere. Further, the paper is focused on the working principle of the miniaturized portable continuous concentrator we have designed and the possibilities of its application in air sampling and accumulation of organic and inorganic substances with wh...