It is agreed that 80–90% of HAIs are transmitted by direct contact, with 10–20% resulting from an airborne transmission (representing 0.4–1% of admitted patients). Mortality rates from HAIs are significant and affect the overall cost of healthcare delivery. Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs, also referred to as nosocomial infections) have a significant impact on patient care. These pathogens are spread by a number of contact and noncontact (airborne) causes. Medical facilities are places where relatively high levels of pathogenic (disease-causing) micro-organisms are generated and concentrated by an infected patient population or by procedures that handle infected human tissues and bodily fluids. More recent global outbreaks like swine flu, bird flu and Ebola virus have shown that even though we have advanced technologically, there is still a lot left to be done in the field of contaminant suppression. Deadlier threats like AIDS, bioterrorism (anthrax attacks, Tokyo Metro Sarin Gas attack etc.) and SARS have triggered many concerns about the control of the indoor environment and unveiled the role of ventilation system design in isolating an infected or vulnerable patient. A logical solution to the problem was isolation of the infected patient. This led to development in the field of infection suppression in order to reduce the spread of disease. The later stage of twentieth century witnessed an alarming spread of Tuberculosis (TB) across the European nations, and this sparked an extensive research in the field of infection control techniques. Our results suggest that immune-suppressed patients should be kept near the air supply and infectious patients near the exhaust. Velocity and temperature profile inside the isolation room for various configurations are simulated. The patient’s body is approximated as a semi-cylindrical shape resting on a bed and is treated as a constant heat source. 3D Navier-Stokes and energy equation using finite volume method (FVM) with a domain of isolation room is solved for appropriate boundary conditions. This manuscript aims to optimize the ventilation strategy towards contaminant suppression in the isolation room. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) of hospitals is a highly specialized field and critical care units like isolation rooms and operation theatres deserve special attention, as infected patients must be isolated from ambient environment in order to prevent the infection from spreading and to save the life of the patient.
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