Is Occurrence Of Sick Building Syndrome A Possibility In The Dissection Hall?

Sick Building Syndrome in dissection hall?

Abstract

“Sick building syndrome†(SBS) refers to a condition where people working in a building experience a constellation of non-specific mucosal, skin, and general symptoms that are temporally related to their occupancy in the particular building and which usually disappear once the duration of work is over and they leave the confines of the building. Formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound which has been substantially implicated in its genesis in numerous studies. The gross anatomy dissection hall in medical colleges provides a space where there is considerable amount of formaldehyde emission from the formalin-embalmed cadavers. Added to this are factors such as crowding, humidity and psychosocial demands of the new lifestyle. The present article intends to review the current understanding of this entity and provide insight into whether it is possible that medical students, teachers and staff could actually be suffering from sick building syndrome in the time spent in the dissection hall.[D D Natl J Integr Res Med, 2020; 11(4):66-71]