Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution

The problem of indoor pollution has raised concern among occupational and environmental health workers, architects, and engineers involved in the heating and ventilation of buildings. To date, most of the attention has focused on chemical contaminants. This monograph opens up a new aspect of the subject, by examining the effects of modern, energy-efficient architectural design on levels of microbial contamination inside buildings, particularly office buildings and hospitals. It discusses how, badly designed, poorly located, or badly maintained heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems can become breeding grounds for fungi, bacteria, and other micro-organisms, thereby causing and facilitating the transmission of airborne diseases to the building's occupants. Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution is based on an interdisciplinary seminar held by the American Society of Microbiology.