I was very disappointed to read the article “Science faction” (BSj 05/08) in which the author assumed it was a virologist’s responsibility to find the source of an infection, let alone SARS, which at that time did not even have a full case definition as it was a new and emerging pathogen.

As a virologist, I wish to inform you that it would not be our responsibility, as we would be detecting and serotyping the virus isolated from the patients and attempting prevention strategies.

The responsibility in clinical terms would most likely fall to an infection control team, who are largely hospital based and would therefore have little knowledge of building stuctures of that size, and generally consist of microbiologists not virologists.

Furthermore it is no suprise that “it took a building services team not a medical one” to find out how so many people in one block contracted the infection, as only a team that designs buildings and has extensive knowledge of the services and systems used would be able to detect such a problem. How many medical staff would have access to floor plans, and a knowledge of the services such as downpipes? Very few, I imagine, as they were probably far too busy dealing with the sick to be having to correct failings in building designs.

Charlotte Regan, medical and diagnostic virology MSc student, Manchester University

Source

Building Sustainable Design