الفهرس 
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Abstract
Abstract Aerosol disease transmission is one of the main routes for many diseases such as Tuberculosis, influenza, measles, and Aspergillosis. Hospital acquired infections pose a significant public health problem especially in limited-resources facilities where the use of mechanical ventilation as a protective measure is difficult to implement and maintain. Preventing infection involves blocking any stage of the pathogen pathway. Controls fall into three categories: administrative, personal protection, and environmental. Administrative controls aim to keep infectious patients away from those susceptible. Personal protection includes using masks or respirators to prevent either the distribution or inhalation of pathogens. environmental controls involve using design interventions that provide ventilation performance that would decrease pathogen concentrations, and thus reduce infections. The design role in environmental controls primarily intervene after pathogens leave the breathing zone from one patient before they enter the breathing zone of another. As far as hospital ventilation design is concerned, the greatest impact would be on the airborne route of infection, which is the focus of this dissertation.
Good architectural design of hospitals can reduce airborne infection. Airborne infectious diseases need proper ventilation design. Architecture, ventilation, and airborne infection are three interrelated disciplines that influence each other. The architectural design of hospitals is an essential component of hospitals’ infection control strategy. Ventilation design has a considerable effect on the dilution and decay of airborne microorganisms. It may be possible to greatly reduce environmental contamination and thus minimize HAI through improved ventilation. A healthy architecture needed answers to two questions: how enclosed air becomes contaminated, and how buildings could mitigate those contaminants and provide healthy indoor air. Science could answer the first question, while architects are the ones who should answer the second question.
Why was this research done? In middle and low-income countries, limited resources hospitals cannot afford mechanical ventilation systems with its great complexity, increasing number of components, need for space, use of energy, and initial and regular maintenance cost. Instead they rely on natural ventilation as a low cost and energy saving alternative to naturally induce airflow necessary for providing fresh air and flushing contaminants.
A growing body of researches and evidences confirm that natural ventilation can be reliable in producing high ventilation rates and reducing the risk of transmission of airborne pathogens. However, natural driving forces are unsteady, highly turbulent, and uncontrollable. Natural driving forces cannot work on their own to provide certain favorable indoor conditions. Natural ventilation is so integrated with the building, thus, utilizing different design variables and attributes can dramatically change the way by which airflow behaves inside the space. This research attempts to answer the following questions: (1) what is the feasibility and reliability of utilizing natural ventilation for airborne infection prevention in multi-bed hospitals’ wards? (2) How can we measure and predict the reliability of natural ventilation in preventing airborne infection? (3) How does the utilization of natural ventilation for infection control affect the ward and hospital design? / What are the design implications in utilizing natural ventilation in the context of infection control?