Ann Emerg Med 2004 Dec; 44(6):635-645 Extraordinary incidents
resulting in airborne infectious disease outbreaks could produce
patient isolation requirements that exceed most hospitals'
capacity. This article investigates expedient methods to
establish airborne infection isolation areas using a
commercially available portable filtration unit and common
hardware supplies. The study was conducted within a
conventional, nonisolation hospital room, and researchers
evaluated several airborne isolation configurations that did not
require building ventilation or structural modifications. A
portable high-efficiency particulate air filtration unit and
full-length plastic curtains established a "zone-within-zone"
protective environment using local capture and directional
airflows. The cost of constructing the expedient configurations
was less than US$2,300 and required fewer than 3 person-hours to
construct. A medical nebulizer aerosolized polystyrene latex
microspheres to generate respirable condensation nuclei. Aeros