Disease – Indoor Air Nerd

Each month we publish a newsletter titled IAQ Website of the Month. The excerpt below was originally published in the December 2012 newsletter.

If you have been keeping up with the times, you know that “damp” is a 4-letter word. Organizations such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and World Health Organization (WHO) have published documents in the last decade describing the health effects of damp buildings. Now, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) can be added to the list. NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.

For an indoor air nerd, there’s no worse nightmare than sitting next to the one guy on the airplane that is sick and coughing uncontrollably. There I was today, strapped in at 10,000 feet next to a young man who managed to cough for 4 long hours from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Here’s a game plan if you ever get stuck in the same situation:

1. Ask to move. And I’m not talking about the next row over. For best avoidance, move at least 7 rows away from the offender. This was the maximum number of rows SARS traveled in a well documented flight in China. Today’s flight was fully booked so this was not an option. I got up during the flight to stretch my legs and get a slight reprieve.